Sami Samawi’s AI Art Depicts Mediated Experience of Gaza War

Sami Samawi Fundraiser for Gaza: Their Voices, Our Dreams – أَصْوَاتُهُمْ، أَحْلَامُنَا Ayyam Gallery 14–18 December 2023
Dubai

Dubai’s Ayyam Gallery recently held a fundraising exhibition featuring Sami Samawi‘s AI-generated videos of the war in Gaza. Proceeds from sales of limited edition prints derived from the exhibition, Their Voices, Our Dreams, are going to children in Gaza via The Little Wings Foundation.

Some scenes are sentimental, showing children sitting among fruit looking out over rubble, as if Anne Geddes were a war photographer. Others, depicting pumpkin-shaped tanks, for example, are surreal, reminiscent of paintings by Tetsuya Ishida. We asked Samawi about this unusual, contentious approach.

With so much misinformation being shared during Israel’s attack on Gaza, did you have any reservations about using AI to generate images? Is there a concern that they undermine the brutal reality?

Firstly, the aim was not to depict the war itself in a literal sense, but rather to convey the experience of the Arab diaspora. Many of us have engaged with the conflict through digital media, fragmentarily and from a distance. The surreal AI imagery mirrors this mediated experience—it’s another layer of digital interpretation, just as our understanding is shaped by the snippets of war we see online.

Secondly, by incorporating the actual sounds of war into a surreal, visually softened landscape, the project invites engagement from those who might shy away from more graphic representations. It’s an approach that seeks to communicate the essence of the conflict without inflicting secondary trauma on the viewer.

Thirdly, the use of AI in this context is particularly poignant, especially given the role it has played in this conflict. While AI technology is often employed in warfare for destruction and surveillance, here it’s repurposed for empathy and aid. It’s a reclamation of technology, turning a tool often used for harm into one for healing and support, especially for the disabled children in Gaza who are the beneficiaries of this project.

Lastly, this project aims to shift focus from the brutality of the conflict to the resilience and enduring spirit of the Gazan people. It’s a counter-narrative to the often dehumanising, humiliating and compromising portrayals in mainstream media as well as footage from the ground, highlighting strength and hope rather than just victimhood.

In doing so, it serves as its own form of counter-propaganda, challenging prevailing narratives and offering a different lens through which to view the conflict.

In essence, this project is as much about the medium as it is about the message. The surreal AI-created imagery isn’t just a stylistic choice; it’s integral to how we understand and engage with this complex and ongoing tragedy on social media, footage on the ground interspersed with the abundant presence of keffiyehs and watermelon art.

It’s an attempt to bridge the gap between the immediacy of the conflict and the distant, often disconnected way it’s experienced by the global diaspora and the Arabs residing in neighbouring countries. —[O]

Main image: Sami Samawi, Girls 1 (2023). Video still. Courtesy the artist and Ayyam Gallery.