\n \n A fashion show that features elderly people as models is a rarity. One with elderly Black African models is even rarer.\n <\/p>\n \n Perhaps that\u2019s why Nigerian visual artist Malik Afegbua got so much attention from around the world when he posted images on social media last month showing seniors on a fashion runway, draped in stylish, colorful clothes.\n <\/p>\n \n Titled \u201cThe Elders Series,\u201d the images challenge stereotypes around how older people are perceived, as well as foregrounding African faces and bodies, which have often been at the periphery of the fashion world.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe inspiration behind (this series) was my mum,\u201d explained Afegbua, 38. \u201cShe had a stroke, and I am very close to my mum. I just needed an outlet to find a way to express myself and not think about her on a life-support machine. I wanted to think about her in a happy place.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But what\u2019s truly remarkable about the images is that the ground-breaking fashion show never actually took place. While the images look like photographs of a genuine event, they were entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI).\n <\/p>\n \n Twelve years ago, Afegbua was an amateur photographer and visual artist when he received a Canon camera as a gift. He says it gave him the opportunity to start producing videos, and as a self-taught filmmaker he has gone on to create numerous movies and corporate videos. He produced series two and three of Netflix show \u201cMade By Design,\u201d as well as a biopic docudrama on Nigerian designer Nike Davies-Okundaye.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe Elders Series\u201d is an extension of other projects that Afegbua has created through AI. He uses the AI platform Midjourney, which generates images in response to text prompts. Afegbua says he experiments with different phrases, refining his search terms until he gets an image he likes, and then edits it in Photoshop \u2013 repeating the process until he achieves the effect he\u2019s looking for.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen it comes to AI, you put in a text prompt, it gives you something random \u2013 you keep going to different depths until you find what you want,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n There has been much controversy over racial and gender bias in AI. Facial recognition technology can be less accurate for Black skin than White<\/a>, and AI systems to spot skin cancer have been found to be trained predominantly on White skin<\/a>. It\u2019s also been noted that AI art platforms can produce pictures that reflect the cultural biases of images found on the internet<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Afegbua said that until his mother\u2019s stroke, he had only worked experimentally with images of Black people on AI platforms, but he found that the images they produced were \u201cmangled up and not very good.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n He noticed that the images produced of Black Americans were different than those of Black Africans. \u201cWhen you put \u2018African\u2019 they look less dapper and in a less nice environment,\u201d Afegbua explained.\n <\/p>\n \n Through repeated searches using variations of his text prompts, he says he was able to train the AI and improve the images it produced of Black people. \u201cNow anyone can go into the AI and put \u2018a Black man in a fashion show\u2019 and you are going to get something like what I did, because it\u2019s now in the system,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I\u2019ve done it, the system now has that data.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Afegbua believes AI can be a powerful tool for the arts \u2013 film and television in particular. \u201cIt\u2019s here to stay \u2026 it\u2019s going to evolve and it\u2019s going to get better,\u201d he said. But he says the role of a human creator is still key. \u201cAI is not All. It can\u2019t think by itself, there is always a human being behind it regardless \u2013 to put things in motion,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n His other AI projects include creating a virtual futuristic city called \u201cNgochola,\u201d populated by people who are heroic, beautiful and African. Afegbua says he wanted the city to reflect ancient African civilizations, and \u201cthe power that technology would play in that society\u201d if it weren\u2019t for colonialism. But it is \u201cThe Elders Series\u201d that has got him the most attention.\n <\/p>\n \n Afegbua says that since he shared the images he has been invited to exhibit his work at galleries in the US, France and Brazil, and has signed a deal to work on a Hollywood movie. But perhaps more rewarding is the recognition he\u2019s received for presenting older people in a positive light.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019ve had many associations that have to do with the elderly contact me asking how we can collaborate,\u201d he said, adding that the World Health Organization had been in touch to tell him that it views his work as \u201ca major, positive contributor in the global effort by the WHO\/UN\u2019s Decade of Healthy Ageing in combatting ageism.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was going to resonate with the world like that,\u201d Afegbua said. \u201cI am glad that people are starting to have that conversation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/230215162019-malik-afegbua-ngochola-story.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n