Ave Maria version augmentée

Ave Maria – Version augmentée is a multidisciplinary photographic project that explores the transformation of identity in the contemporary digital age. Starting from a smartphone selfie, the project begins with mainstream images that serve both as a personal narrative and as a material support. These images are then transformed using artificial intelligence, generating multiple variations of a single identity. By introducing these algorithmic alterations, I question the stability of representation, creating hybrid forms that are simultaneously familiar and uncanny. The project then moves beyond the digital and immaterial through interventions on prints (fine art paper and textiles) and embroidery, giving the work tangible materiality. This dialogue between AI- generated images and handcrafted gestures highlights the tension between machine and human, virtual and material, precision and imperfection, creating an ambivalence between territories that, at first glance, appear distinct but whose boundaries dissolve. It questions not only the nature of the photographic image but also broader implications for identity, embodiment, and the self in the technological era. The title references the religious iconography of the Virgin Mary and interrogates how a sacred image can transform and lose its aura in the digital age. Figures produced by AI and modified through artisanal gestures explore this tension between sacred and profane, presence and reproduction, inviting reflection on what is transmitted, lost, or reinvented in contemporary imagery. Through fragmented and evolving forms, Ave Maria – Version augmentée constructs spaces where intimate, autobiographical experience resonates with universal themes of metamorphosis and transformation. Time, memory, and the body are explored as malleable territories, constantly shifting under the influence of internal states and external technologies. The series occupies a liminal space between reality and fiction, intangible and tangible, personal and collective, offering a contemporary reflection on how human identity can be reshaped and questioned through both material and virtual processes. The project investigates the transformation of images, bodies, and narratives, revealing the porous boundaries between self and world.