2026-03-12 14:01 Note Type: insight Tags: imperialsim, colonialism, ai, artificial-intelligence, africa

A selection of our work from last year's show at The Photographers' Gallery, London, will be on display: a list of hundreds of African languages currently absent from LLM training data, linked to four films created from archival photographs.

Through these artistic interventions, we expose how imperial mythology is maintained across technological eras — how these technologies attempt to silence and absorb voices of resistance, and how those resistances persist regardless.

The films begin with photographs from archives tied to Cecil Rhodes' violent imperialism, confronting the imperial logics embedded in archival hierarchies and the racialised, gendered assumptions within datasets powering generative AI.

To counter this, we introduce human-made animation, agency, emotion, and idleness.

Explore research at: unthinking.photography/projects/planetary-portals/

Thanks to Sam Mercer and Arieh Frosh.

Who holds the power when AI enters our lives? The exhibition features new commissions spanning interactive games, immersive installations, sculptures, and a drone-read hand-
painted textile.

References:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVwQQj0jaQV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

unthinking.photography/projects/planetary-portals