Self-Exoticisation Archives (II)

Aziza Kadyri’s 'Self-Exoticisation Archives' critically engages with identity formation in the digital age, using artificial intelligence as both an interlocutor and an adversary. By training an AI model on the imagery of Suzani embroidery, Kadyri exposes the historical forces – colonial, patriarchal, and commercial – that shape cultural perception. The work questions not only the authenticity of representation but also the complicity of digital tools in reinforcing inherited biases.

Textiles, long associated with feminine labor and communal storytelling, become a site of contestation and reclamation in Kadyri’s practice. Through AI-generated reinterpretations, Suzani patterns oscillate between preservation and distortion, raising urgent questions about agency, authorship, and the commodification of cultural heritage. In Duets, this work embodies the fraught relationship between tradition and technology, positioning the artist as both participant and observer in an evolving negotiation of identity and representation.

By placing traditional craft in conversation with digital manipulation, Kadyri highlights the paradox of contemporary cultural identity – how it is simultaneously preserved and reshaped through emerging technologies. The work urges viewers to reconsider their assumptions about authenticity, prompting them to interrogate the fine line between homage and appropriation. In doing so, it challenges the notion that heritage is static, instead positioning it as a site of active, contested meaning.

– Auronda Scalera & Alfredo Cramerotti, curators

Specifically created for mobile devices and utilising the "trending sound" function on social media. 
Uses a sound fragment from Mechanical Flirtations (feat. Sahba Sizdahkhani) by Saint Abdullah.