2023 BFA 2D Drawing Thesis work sweetness clings to me like a chainlink fence (attracting all the swarms of flies) [ 99” x 35” ] everlasting patchwork tracing sunlight on my shoulders (tunneling on through) [ 94” x 36” ] hallowed arms outstretched towards me and bent into a dive (eternal headfirst tumbling) [ 58” x 35” ] Heady bouquet fluorescence over my heels (eye me from the tree Line) [ 94” x 36” ] Artist Statement that reads: This work explores the relationship we form with digital tools, specifically artificial intelligence, while also observing the visually transformative nature that recent machine learning technologies conjure when interpreting and reproducing a landscape. The focal point of this work are the systems of bias that AI gains through its training and now are inherent to the technology that has also become archival in nature. These systems of bias are learned from our online interactions with each other and the technology which means AI’s existence, knowledge, and perceptive tendencies are shaped by our own behavior. AI mirrors human thought and its reproductions of prejudice and privilege are striking indicators of overarching social issues. The landscapes that I create using an AI generator are amalgamations of rural Appalachian environments mixed among other random landscapes collected from Google Maps in the plethora of images that the AI is trained with. This AI is a free and accessible generator that allows anyone with an internet connection to direct the tool’s current bank of information. This work is grounded in the moments it was created since it reflects present methods used to retrieve and process information and documents this artistically. The drawings seem incomprehensible, a flood of visual information, yet upon closer inspection there is recognizable and familiar imagery of ecology. The landscapes capture what we consciously and unconsciously regard aesthetically – they present our biases and purposefully present the most physicality to situate the impact away from the digital space. An environment also symbolizes an ever-changing system with the impossibility of a real stasis yet still allows for a moment to be captured through archival methods. The imagery of the Appalachian landscape shows a sense of identity within the systematic work and the graffiti-like drawings of plant species invasive to Appalachia meditates on the isolation and alienation from the introduction of the digital space to rural communities. This work depicts an idealistic environment that threatens to become surreal.