Toward a Sacred Vision

Selfie Studio began with the possibility of transforming a photograph through AI. A submitted selfie could become a portrait that borrowed the visual language of Old Master painting.

The early exploration, Sacred Gaze, invited a different way of seeing an ordinary image of oneself. But the capacity to produce another striking picture soon became less interesting to me than the experience around it.

What if the portrait were the outcome of a reflective process? What if the making of the image helped a participant consider the qualities, environments and possibilities they wanted to move towards?

From transformation to intention

In Magic Muse, I describe Selfie Studio as a work in progress. Its direction shifted towards a guided conversation, using a custom GPT to help participants imagine a future vision of themselves.

The starting point could be a photograph, but the journey would include questions. What feels meaningful? What kind of setting supports the person you hope to become? Which symbols or qualities help express that possibility?

The image would hold the responses together. It could become a visual expression of intention, rather than an automatic improvement of appearance.

This distinction mattered to me. A portrait can invite recognition without promising that a generated image will change a person's life. Its value can lie in the reflection that accompanies it.

Imagining with responsibility

The project also carried the ethical questions raised by my use of AI. I wanted to think beyond the novelty of generation towards the quality of the human encounter.

That meant attending to how the tool was used, what the participant was being invited to disclose and what kind of experience the artwork could reasonably offer.

The sacred vision was not a fixed ideal that everyone should resemble. It was an invitation to imagine dignity, beauty and possibility in a form meaningful to the participant.

The project remained an exploration, with questions still to be worked through. That openness was part of its direction.

An image to return to

Across my earlier projects, self-portraiture had offered ways to examine identity, reclaim visibility and connect with others. Selfie Studio asked whether that practice could become an invitation.

A future image might provide something to contemplate: a representation of qualities not yet fully lived, an environment not yet inhabited, or a possibility difficult to articulate in words.

The work's ambition was to create space for that imagining. Its next step would be shaped by the people taking part, and by the responsibility of making the invitation worth accepting.