In ‘Memento Mori,’ I explore the consequences of our increasing reliance on AI and technology. I particularly explore this impact in the context of environmental degradation. By capturing human presence and obscuring them through repetitive tracing, I highlight the ephemerality of human presence in the face of environmental harm. This artwork serves as a reminder of the need for accountability and awareness in our relationship with technology, urging viewers to consider the environmental impact of their actions.
Inspiration
Memento Mori comes from the Latin remember you will die. It is a recurring theme in art over the centuries. In this work, I use it as a memento for the earth, remember our environment can die and our world can die. I drew from the work of Rembrandt re-using his etching plates and reconfiguring the artwork each time but in the process completely destroying the ability to reproduce the previous work. The plates were a limited resource, much in the same way our natural resources are limited. As this is a plotter work I also drew inspiration from one of the pioneers of generative art, Vera Molnar. Molnar’s work was a particular inspiration during some of the more challenging aspects of this work’s development, forcing me back to the drawing board.
Evolution of Memento Mori
Memento Mori started as a plotter-based artwork where a plotter would draw and re-draw over and over again rectangles representing a human presence and thereby occlude the glass plate with presences that become meaningless over time. This work has now evolved into a projection-based artwork with an evolving aesthetic where human presence is reflected in photographs of nature, stamped into rectangles with bright outlines. Over time, the nature images are slowly replaced by generative images. The generation is made using a lightweight local AI and trained on photographs taken by the artist. The presence of a person moving into range of the camera is tracked via a purple rectangle that fixes and fills in with nature and becomes bright green.
The outlines fade into the work until the nature is occluded by the chaos of humanity’s presence and the machinic signature of the neon green overwhelms the work. Over time, viewers will see the work become more chaotic and involved, showing how our actions impact the environment, especially over time.
Plotter Development
This work began, as all my work does, in code. And in the idea of segmenting and drawing the outlines of humans seen by the AI. I began with webcam capture, then segmentation, edge detection, png generation, svg tracing then finally sending to the plotter via gcode. There were multiple problems in the execution of this work, from the wrong plotter to the overall aesthetic so this work evolved in appearance while maintaining the overall impact and concept of the piece. From segmentation I moved to YOLO and drew bounding boxes instead which allowed for a more aesthetic final result.
Projection and Code Development
The challenges of the plotter based work became apparent almost immediately and the work was not suited for long term installation. however, I decided to change tack, to use the base code to make a new variation on this work for screen and projection based works. This change in technology allowed for greater connection to the environment through photography and gradual replacement by AI images, and through the human presence, by changing the colors to represent live human recognition and the stamped, immutable human image. the code underwent many changes, especially after stress testing at ACMI during and ACMI+RMIT Audience Lab. It has now been installed as part of a large scale projection mapping work for Knox Immerse.
Fort Earth Exhibition at 45 Downstairs
FORT EARTH is a curated exhibition + project providing the opportunity for visual artists and creators to develop personal or collaborative artworks with sustainability and the environment in mind. Artists came together to create a massive exhibition using environmentally friendly materials.
Memento Mori was shown in an experimental capacity to test the system under a large influx of viewers.
The success of this work was using mostly recycled materials, the challenge of this work was in the plotter which was not built for purpose, lacking a z axis. this created issues in the creation of the work but also opportunities to think outside the outlines of the humans and look towards boxes. this helped the machine work within its limitations and the sound was very satisfying. however, it became quickly apparent that the meaning of the work got lost over time as it became more chaotic.
ACMI+RMIT Audience Test Lab
Memento Mori was tested at ACMI to stress test its capabilities over a long day with a lot of people. this was an incredible opportunity to see the work operating and scale and talk to people about it. The environmental subject was understood very clearly which is so helpful and I came away with a range of to do list items mainly centered around performance and efficiency.
Knox Immerse Installation
As the work has evolved to become more complex, It has evolved as a projection mapped artwork, becoming a month long display at Knox Immerse as part of their 2026 offering. This has given me the opportunity to work on a much larger scale with images stamped into the work. I collected a dataset of flora from around the beautiful Knox bushlands to stamp inside each rectangle. as the work progresses, the photographs degrade and fade away, leaving only the rectangle behind, the impact of the human presence, forever changing the landscape of the piece, much as generative AI is changing our landscape with datacenter and environmental damage.
