I trained a custom AI on my own images of traditional Suzani embroidery, an art form tied to invisible feminine labour, to explore the mental traps I set for myself while redefining my blurred Central Asian identity. The project is an ongoing dialogue with a digital tool that, for now, reflects colonial structures, aesthetics and imaginations.

Through this collaboration, I reimagine Suzani patterns—a visual language of women's untold stories—exposing biases in technology that overlook Central Asian and Global South cultures. The work questions how AI shapes collective memory in a globalised world: Do we still remember, or has technology taken over that role?

Each conversation begins with a traditional pattern, which the AI interprets through computer vision. I then reinterpret its output, continuing this back-and-forth cycle until we achieve the desired result.

More AI conversation sequences below:

(Presented as a part of an installation at the Uzbekistan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation)