It is widely understood that text prompts are currently needed to make images using most generative AI systems. It seems that the more sophisticated and detailed our language, the closer we can arrive at an image that resembles what is in our imagination.
But what if the language comes from another era?
In Abraham Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour (first published in 1814), language was similarly used to describe colour. In the 1821 publication, 110 colour swatches were each accompanied by three references to the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral worlds in an attempt to describe each colour.
It quickly became the preeminent guide to colour and its classifications for artists, scientists, naturalists, and anthropologists in the 19th century. Used by Charles Darwin on the Beagle voyage in the 1830’s, Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour can be viewed as the predecessor of modern colour systems such as Pantone.
The images in this series are created using the generative AI system DALL E2 by inserting text prompts from the colour descriptions in Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour.
Each work in my series, although generated by 21st century technology, is a direct result of early 19th century language attempting to describe one individual colour by referring to the natural world. The 19th century saw many advances in the arts and sciences, which led to much social and political change. We too are moving through a time of similar rapid change.
I am interested in this merging of eras where current technology is faced with the nuances of 19th century language in which subtle distinctions in meaning have since been lost. This sometimes inadvertently results in unexpected or ambiguous (generated) images that raise many questions both about the technology and our relationship with the natural world.
