In this feature by Canvas, Nouf Aljowaysir’s practice is positioned within a broader dialogue around identity, technology, and the politics of image-making. Working with artificial intelligence, the artist interrogates how visual culture is constructed, particularly how Arab identities are shaped, distorted, or erased within algorithmic systems. Her work draws on archival material and machine learning processes to expose the biases embedded within datasets, revealing how histories are filtered through a predominantly Western lens.
Central to Aljowaysir’s practice is a tension between technological systems and inherited forms of knowledge. By engaging with genealogy, memory, and oral storytelling, she challenges the authority of AI as a tool for understanding identity. Instead of producing definitive images, her works often highlight absence, removing or obscuring figures to reflect the gaps and distortions within both archives and machine-generated outputs.
Through this approach, Aljowaysir reframes AI not as a neutral tool, but as a contested space where cultural narratives are negotiated, questioned, and reimagined.
