When I started to use Midjourney in 2022,  I wanted to know if it could represent my Andean homeland. I typed the prompt "llama weaving" into Midjourney version 3. Llamas are a cultural icon in the Andes, and weaving is the most essential art form for the Andean Indigenous people. In a few seconds, I got a grid of four unique images of woven llamas on the screen. They were strange and funny, but all looked like llamas, and the images had woven elements. The final image grabs me. It is a solemn llama wearing a tight-fitting, knit scarf on an impossibly long neck. The images are somewhat surreal, but they all have two ears and two eyes. The colors are all natural earth tones- there were no pink, blue, or green llamas, nor camels,

Next, I used the prompt "Weaving Andean Weavers." Using an early version of Midjourney 3, some faces were often distorted, and the eyes didn't feel real. But the images looked like Indigenous weavers, in a unique juxtaposition to their yarns. Some of the distortions reminded me of Francis Bacon's distorted people, where the distortion added to the power of the image. 

Next, I wanted to expand the machine creativity by giving it more ambiguous, imaginative prompts. I enjoy playing Exquisite Corpse, a game invented by the Surrealists to expand and open up the imagination. To play Exquisite Corpse, a paper is folded according to the number of participants. Each person draws on their portion without seeing the other participants' drawings. After everyone has a turn, the paper is unfolded: the results are often surprising, with unexpected juxtapositions.

I typed the prompt "exquisite corpse Bolivian art," wondering what the Midjourney AI interpretation would be. I had mixed results. The collages looked Bolivian but didn't appear they were created by humans. The images were unimaginable. I had never seen anything like them, but still, they had subjects and colors similar to Bolivian art. In the forefront of the images are frontal portraits of two  Bolivia stereotypes, the devil and the stone-faced Indigenous person. In the background, the skies combine indigo and gray. In the background, there are always mountains with dwellings scattered around them. There are typical houses with tin roofs, colonial buildings, and churches. The people are distorted. The work is a mixture of surrealism and expressionism.  The people are bizarre and surreal, but sometimes, in their strangeness, they are captivating.

Representing My Culture in A.I.

Prompt: Exquisite Corpse Bolivian Art

Prompt: weaving Andean weavers

Prompt: llama weaving