In conversation with Melissa Singer, National Fashion Editor - The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Response dates 5th Feb 2024

Melissa Singer (MS): Broadly speaking, Liz, how do you feel about AI and its role in fashion?

Liz Sunshine (LS): As a creative I am a curious and open person. I like to question why things exist in the world and what value they have, both to me and the people around me.

My career started mid the dawn of digital photography making the industry of film redundant. At high school everything was analogue and then 12 months later it had transitioned into digital so fast that I saw a huge shift in the industry. I was lucky enough to learn both old and new, but ultimately I moved to digital at a pivotal moment in my career, and I vowed to keep learning so I would never be left behind. Skip forward a decade and AI presented a new way to imagine photography.

In the beginning I had no interest, but I also didn’t feel intimidated by the potential shift that AI presented within my career. I think any creative who is lucky enough to be working, knows that it may not last forever.

It wasn’t until a photographer who I greatly respect - Tom Blanchford - started sharing his own AI journey that I felt the pull to dabble in what would quickly become an obsession. Initially I had no intention of doing anything in particular, it was just a new skill and I was curious to see how AI worked and if I could create images that felt of value to me.

Twelve months ago had you told me this series of images would have existed in this way, I would never have believed you. I am a documentary photographer after all, and I value the real over anything imagined, but there is magic in being given creative freedom that feels effortless. For that reason I feel like the applications for AI in fashion could be endless. It’s not AI that will determine what happens, but the people who push and pull the technology to create visions and concepts that could change the way we see each corner of the fashion industry.

MS: Your book, Future Fashion, was created almost entirely using AI imagery - as someone who has spent her career photographing people, why did you decide to do it this way? Did you feel this was a risk?

LS: I think everything creative is a risk as it reveals an individuals perspective.

In a way Future Fashion didn’t feel risky though, I was just following a thread of curiosity that led me to create the body of work. At no point did I ever make a conscious decision to produce a book, it just felt like the right way to share this work and question style as we age.

We live in a world of visual noise. As an image maker I want to ensure that whatever I’m sharing is trying to say something that hasn’t already been said. Future Fashion exists not because I wanted to create something using AI, but because AI allowed me to explore a project I was already working on from a new perspective.

This project is part of a larger body of work that explores Our Relationship With Clothes, questioning the connection between women and their clothing, while trying to bring awareness to textile waste in this country.

I have always found older women beautiful, and as I age, I want to disconnect with the idea of chasing youth and start looking forward to the coming seasons of my life. In the decade of photographing women in fashion, I have asked countless visually older women if I could take their portrait, and each time I have been met with a polite decline.

Part of the response to this project that I have found really interesting is that out of the 7 images share on social media three of them have gone viral, and by viral I mean seen by millions of people, liked hundreds of thousand of times and shared tens of thousands of times. And as my Instagram is flooded with women tagging their friends, I realise we are all craving a connection to each other and a lot of that happens through our clothes.

Yes Future Fashion was created in AI, but it’s not a book about AI. It’s a book that hopes to encourage people to think about their relationship with clothes in the hope that they may shop less.

MS: Obviously there was still a very strong "human" element in the creation of your book, including your knowledge and experience to curate and edit the images, as well as to craft the narrative can you tell me a bit more about that, possibly as a way to help dispel some myths around the use of AI in fashion?

LS: I believe a common misconception about AI is that it’s incredibly easy, and on a surface level it absolutely is, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that all AI is not created equal. Just like iPhone photography opened up the opportunity for more people to participate in the industry, there is still a professional skill set that is required to work in a professional field.

I created 6,000+ images to produce the 100 images that were published in my book. It was curated with the same eyes that have photographed thousands of women each year for the last decade, and is truely an extension of my documentary work. Could someone else create the same series, of course, but would it come from the same perspective and intention, probably not.

MS: Like most technologies, AI has the potential to be used positively and negatively. What are some of the negative uses you feel most strongly about, and what can we do about them?

LS: Like fast fashion, I feel we are living in a world of disposable imagery. Photographers are constantly being asked to create more work, and the value it’s quickly being determined by social media platforms.

A few years ago I decided to slow down and see the value of my work from a new perspective - it’s historical value.

AI could accelerate the pace and expectation of image making, but I think that the responsibly rests with the creative to choose how they want to operate within any industry. In my opinion less is more, but i acknowledge it’s taken me a long time to realise that perspective.

MS: One of the core concerns of people like Chelsea and Robyn is the capacity for AI to take work from creatives such as models and photographers, such as yourself. How do you feel?

LS: I understand this concern. Just like the disruption of Uber to the Taxi industry, or AirBNB to hotels, online shopping to bricks and mortar, I think there will potentially be a lot of change. Every day that I am working I am grateful, as I am aware that nothing lasts forever.