Baud PostmaUntitled (Cowboy 2 Crop)

In this new body of work, Baud Postma incorporates AI as a tool for conceptual enquiry. Embracing the new skill of prompt engineering, Postma crafts images within generative text-to-image Al platforms. Rather than viewing these digital results as finished works, he subjects them to a series of analogue transformations. These works exist in dialogue with the past, present and future of photography and invite viewers to consider how emerging technologies can be co-opted to coexist with, and even enhance, traditional practices rather than replace them.

Postma’s choice of subject matter, the Cowboy and its connection to the frontier, offers a powerful metaphor for the Al revolution. The archetypal Cowboy embodies a range of conflicting themes that resonate deeply with the dualities of AI. On one hand, it symbolises optimistic ideals of freedom, opportunity, and self-determination; on the other, it evokes histories of exploitation and extreme cultural upheaval.