Tezos

Nowhere to Run Number 01

Creator

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Description

Nowhere to Run is a commissioned collection of digital art projects for UNHCR, Tezos, Objkt, and The Collectors Club in commemoration of World Refugee Day. For this philanthropic project I created seven bespoke animations with electronic music. Each piece uses cutting-edge 3D AI technology to imagine contemporary refugees in the style of classical European sculptures to recontextualize how immigrants are viewed. AI imagined refugees by blending the timeless elegance of these artistic ideals with the faces and forms of displaced individuals to challenge perceptions and evoke empathy. This juxtaposition invites viewers to see refugees not as "others," but as embodiments of grace, dignity, and resilience, worthy of the same reverence as the masterpieces of old. For me, art is always moving and time-based, and I get very excited when I can push a digital 3D mesh beyond its original sculptural footprint in animation. Some of this appeal is a result of exploring the possibilities of digital plasticity aesthetically and discovering what it has to say about us in our moment. But some of it is because I too am a refugee who moved to the West at the age of 18. I had to become self-supporting by the age of 21, therefore I too had to survive and push beyond my own original footprint through an arduous journey as a person and being. I originally created 20 3d AI meshes which I then cleaned up, enhanced, and animated. For the animation I worked with hand modeled sculptural volumes in addition to 3d generative and procedural animation and physics-based simulations. 3d Glitch elements were added in keeping with my style. I then created Shaders that suggested different sculptural materials, and sometimes patina and aging as additional visual details working with varying lighting setups. I picked seven of the best to further refine for minting and then rendered each animation using a Physically Based Render engine. Each animation is minted as HD but available as 4k to Collectors for high end video displays. I also created music which repeats each of the animations as an additional unifying element. For the music I used minimally melodic elements for spaciousness and sound effects as triggers for movement. Art can create space for thoughtful reflection of a kind that heated socio-political debates don’t always facilitate. This is the mandate of art in our world Imo, to create that space for us to reexamine these issues, with humanity and thoughtfulness.