My Avatar’s Avatars: A Visual Exploration and Response to AI-Generated Avatars

Authors

  • Christine Liao Author

Keywords:

AI-Generated Avatars, Avatar Pedagogy, Glitch Feminism, Cyberfeminism, Exquisite Corpse, Glitch Art, Gender Representation

Abstract

This article investigates the potential of avatar-making to challenge stereotypical, hypersexualized, heteronormative White Eurocentric standard beauty and representations of femininity in avatars. With the rise of AI-generated avatars and the questionable gender representations amplified by these avatar images, a critical engagement with AI avatar-making is vital. The study explores alternative strategies for avatar creation using AI and art strategies to counter the often narrow representations of womanhood in avatars that circulate in the visual culture generated by commercial AI products. By employing art strategies such as exquisite corpse, glitch, and remix, I aim to extend avatar pedagogy in art education to reflect the new technology and the digital materiality of avatars. The avatars created through combined strategies and AI demonstrate the possibility of avatar-making that defies gender binaries and normative constructs. The result is a critical engagement with AI for avatar-making to advocate for resistance to the commodification of avatars and reimaging the body and identity.

Author Biography

  • Christine Liao

    Christine Liao, Ph.D., is professor and program coordinator of the Art Education MAT program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her research areas include media arts, digital performance, theorizing virtual body and identity, exploring interactions between virtual and real, STEAM, artificial intelligence and technology in art education, and intercultural education. She has published in several journals in art education and presented at national and international conferences. She is the co-editor of the book “Critical Digital Making in Art Education,” and a review board member for several journals in the field of art education, including Visual Cultural & Gender. She is also the leader of the UNCW faculty-led international program for Japan Study Abroad.

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Published

2024-09-15

Issue

Vol. 19 (2024)

Section

Article