Techart Conference

Nouf Aljowaysir 

■ Abstract

I will be sharing my exploration of the self through the lens of artificial intelligence in my artistic practice. Focusing on two projects—Salaf (Ancestors) and Ana Min Wein? (Where Am I From?)—I embarked on a journey to trace and visualize my genealogy by weaving together personal memory and machine-generated interpretation. Through a dialogue between AI and oral storytelling, I uncovered a narrative that diverged significantly from the one passed down to me by my mother. By working with archival data, colonial imagery, and generative AI, I interrogate how these technologies reinforce historical biases, flatten cultural specificity, and often fail to capture the poetic depth of lived experience. 

■ Bio

Nouf Aljowaysir is a Saudi new media artist examining our changing behaviours and interactions with algorithms. By navigating intimate questions with AI tools and challenging their conventional utility, her work uncovers their underlying training logic and capitalist motivations that shape their outputs and influence our perspectives. 

Nouf has exhibited projects in galleries and festivals globally, including Centre Pompidou, New Museum, Museo Tamayo, M+ Museum, CPH:DOX, Tribeca Film Festival and others. Her latest film Ana Min Wein? (Where Am I From?) won the 2023 Moving Image Lumen Prize and was officially released with The New York Times Op-Docs series in June 2024.