The Question of Reality
Reality as Interpretation
Reality has never felt fixed to me. What we see is always shaped by who is looking, by memory, emotion, experience, and expectation. That idea has always been central to my work. The discussion around AI often returns to the same question: what is real? This made me consider why photography is automatically considered more truthful in the first place.
What Makes Photography Real?
A photograph has never been neutral. The photographer decides what to frame and what to leave outside the image. Even the most direct photograph is still shaped by human choice and perception.
You can recognise that in strong photography. Certain photographers carry such a distinct visual language that you recognise their work immediately. There is already a signature present in the image, a way of looking that belongs to someone. That human presence is what we tend to trust.
At the same time, photography has always contained illusion. Images can be carefully constructed while still feeling emotionally true. We accepted that because there was still a visible connection to reality.
Perception and Bias
We don’t experience the world objectively. Everything we see is filtered through memory, emotion and personal experience. Two people can look at the same image and walk away with completely different interpretations.
That idea has always been central to my work. My images are never meant as fixed statements or direct representations of reality. Through layering, fragmentation and abstraction, I try to create images that remain open enough for multiple readings to exist at the same time.
Photography, AI and Layering
Photography forms the basis of my process, but it is never the endpoint. I work with my own photographs, drawn elements, textures and AI. These layers allow the image to move away from documentation and closer towards interpretation.
AI became part of my process because it opened up possibilities I couldn’t reach with a camera alone. At the same time, it introduced unpredictability. That tension between control and unpredictability keeps gives the work an extra layer.
What Is Real?
For me, AI becomes interesting when it pushes the image into something more layered and and open for interpretation. Part of this can be the discussion about how images are constructed and what we trust to be reality. Maybe the question is not whether an AI-generated image is real. Maybe the more uncomfortable question is whether images are ever objective.
