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Nikau Davis, ‘The Love Interest’ 2021. Graphite and ink on paper. 29.7cm x 42cm. Image courtesy: the artist.

Artist statement

‘The Love Interest’ is part of a hyper realistic graphite and ink  portrait series ‘Periferal’, depicting invented, impossible people. ‘Periferal’ is a world building exercise, with realistic, fluid  linework giving tangible form to immaterial digital sources - reference images of fake people generated by AIs,  and ‘personal’ biographies generated by a code. By assigning  concrete, corporeal identity to the immaterial, the work explores fabricated realities and the illusion of consciousness.

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Acknowledgement of Country

UNSW School of Art & Design stands on an important place of learning and exchange first occupied by the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples.

We acknowledge the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land that our students and staff share, create and operate on. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this respect to all First Nations peoples across Australia. Sovereignty has never been ceded.