Malik Afegbua

Last updated
Malik Afegbua
Malik Afegbua.png
NationalityNigerian
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, visual artist, designer and writer
Known foruse of artificial intelligence technology in the field of arts and the Fashion show for the elders
SpouseEse-lami Afegbua
ChildrenTobias Afegbua

Malik Afegbua is a Nigerian filmmaker, artist and designer. He is well known for his outside the box thinking approach by applying the use of AI technology in the field of arts.

In January 2023, he became viral and received widespread media attention from around the world when he posted images on social media platforms titled The Elder Series where he showcased and depicted seniors on a fashion runway, draped in stylish and colourful clothes using AI. [1] He was soon praised for his portrayal of elderly people in a more positive light by using AI, but also received criticism on the negative impact caused by artificial intelligence on the art as AI is deemed to kill the human creativity skills. [2] His artwork however challenged the common stereotypes which surrounded around how older people are being perceived in modern society. [3] [4]

Career

He was an amateur photographer and visual artist during the time frame of 2011 at a time when he also received a Canon camera as a gift from one of his friends. [5] The Canon camera which he received as a gift became a turning point in his life as he switched to arts and photography from being a business-school graduate pivot. [6] He used the Canon camera to produce videos and he even gone to create films and corporate videos by transforming himself as a self-taught filmmaker. He founded the Slickcity Media and under the production banner he has created advertisements, commercials, documentary films and virtual exhibitions for notable companies and brands like American Express and Meta, however since he went viral he has serviced more prominent names like Marvel studios, IBM and Cadbury. [3]

He has been using AI platform Midjourney, which helps to generate images in response to text prompts. He also uses Adobe Photoshop to edit and crop related to his art work. He rose to limelight and prominence with his ground-breaking idea of showcasing fashion through the lens of artificial intelligence through The Elder Series in January 2023 and subsequently he received invitations to exhibit his art work in France, Brazil and the United States of America. [1] He took inspiration to make the AI fashion show titled The Elder Series or also known as Fashion Show for Seniors after watching his mother who confronted with a stroke. He used his imagination working in conjuncture with the AI software by showing older ageing looking models in beautiful clothes. [7] The World Health Organization heaped praise for his unique artwork by quoting him a major, positive contributor in the global effort by the WHO/UN's Decade of Healthy Ageing in combatting ageism. The Academy Award winning costumer designer Ruth E. Carter praised his works calling this is so dope in an Instagram post. [8] [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old age</span> End of life stage

Old age is the range of ages for persons nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, seniors, senior citizens, or older adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elderly care</span> Care serving the needs and requirements of senior citizens

Elderly care, or simply eldercare, serves the needs of old adults. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and home care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azzedine Alaïa</span> Tunisian fashion designer (1935-2017)

Azzedine Alaïa was a Tunisian couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful beginning in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavio Alves</span> Brazilian writer, screenwriter, and film director

Flavio Pimenta Alves is a Brazilian writer, screenwriter, and film director resident in America since 1998. His movies consistently feature elderly characters as protagonists. He is best known for the film The Garden Left Behind starring Michael Madsen, Ed Asner and Carlie Guevara.

Jack Mackenroth is an American swimmer, model, and fashion designer who competed in the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway.

An artist's portfolio is an edited collection of an artist's best artwork intended to showcase their style or method of work. A portfolio is used by artists to show employers their versatility by showing different samples of current work. Typically, the work reflects an artist's best work or a depth in one specific area of work.

Zina Saro-Wiwa is a Brooklyn-based video artist and filmmaker. She makes video installations, documentaries, music videos and experimental films.

Stephen Burrows is an American fashion designer based in New York City. Burrows studied at Fashion Institute of Technology, then began work in the New York City's Garment Center, alternately managing his own businesses and working closely with luxury department store Henri Bendel. He is known for being one of the first African-American fashion designers to sell internationally and develop a mainstream, high-fashion clientele. His garments, known for their bright colors and "lettuce hem" curly-edges, became an integral part of the "Fun City" New York City disco-dancing scene of the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital fashion</span>

Digital Fashion is the visual representation of clothing built using computer technologies and 3D software. This industry is on the rise due to ethical awareness and uses of digital fashion technology such as artificial intelligence to create products with complex social and technical software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activist ageing</span> Activism and research that empowers the elderly

In the field of ageing studies, activist ageing refers to activism and research that empowers the elderly. This approach investigates how ageing is imagined, how Ageism operates, and how elders respond to exclusion.

Elder rights are the rights of older adults, who in various countries are not recognized as a constitutionally protected class, yet face discrimination across many aspects of society due to their age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love For Our Elders</span> American nonprofit organization

Love For Our Elders is a United States-based nonprofit organization that aims to alleviate social isolation among older adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Button Poetry</span> American poetry publisher

Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation called "the most-viewed slam performance in history."

Oobah Butler is an English author and filmmaker. In 2017 he created The Shed at Dulwich, a fictional restaurant which became the top-rated venue in London on TripAdvisor despite having never served a dish. In April 2019, Butler's debut book How to Bullsh*t Your Way To Number 1 was published and became an LA Times bestseller. In 2021, he became co-host of Catfish UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amarachi Nwosu</span>

Amarachi Nwosu is a Nigerian-American photographer, visual artist, filmmaker, writer and speaker currently based in New York City. She is also the founder of Melanin Unscripted, a creative platform and agency aimed to dismantle stereotypes and blur cultural lines by exposing complex identities and cultures around the world. Her debut documentary "Black in Tokyo" premiered at the International Center of Photography at the ICP Museum, New York City in 2017 and she has also screened the film in Tokyo, Japan at Ultra Super New Gallery in Harajuku.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerwin Frost</span> American DJ, entertainer, and comedian from New York

Kerwin Frost is an American entertainer, DJ, talk show host, and comedian. He first rose to prominence in New York City's Soho Youth streetwear scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ai-Da</span> Humanoid robot artist

Ai-Da is "the world's first ultra-realistic humanoid robot". Completed in 2019, Ai-Da is an android incorporating computer graphics and artificial intelligence algorithms that makes drawings, paintings, and sculptures. She is named after Ada Lovelace.

<i>Mokalik</i> 2019 Nigerian comedy drama film by Kunle Afolayan

Mokalik is a 2019 Nigerian bilingual comedy drama film produced and directed by veteran filmmaker Kunle Afolayan. The film stars newcomer Toni Afolayan in the male lead role along with Femi Adebayo. The film had its theatrical release on 31 May 2019 and received extremely positive reviews from critics while also performing well at the box office. It was acquired by Netflix in July 2019 and was streamed on 1 September 2019. The film has been included as a part of "Made in Africa" collection in May 2020 by Netflix to be streamed amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The film was also nominated for the Best Film category during the 2019 Durban International Film Festival. The film was also premiered in several film festivals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Asante</span> Ghanaian Photographer and multidisciplinary artist

Gilbert Asante is a Ghanaian creative director, photographer, and a multidisciplinary artist. He is best known for his viral images of Ghanaian celebrities including Joselyn Dumas, Boxing legend Azumah Nelson, Lydia Forson, Big Brother Nigeria Housemate, Nengi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midjourney</span> Image-generating machine learning model

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program and service created and hosted by San Francisco–based independent research lab Midjourney, Inc. Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, called prompts, similar to OpenAI's DALL-E and Stability AI's Stable Diffusion. It is one of the technologies of the AI Spring.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nigerian AI artist creates a fashion show for elderly people". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  2. Barnes, Sara (2023-02-14). "AI-Generated Art Imagines a Fabulous Fashion Show Featuring Only Senior Models". My Modern Met. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  3. 1 2 "Malik Afegbua Talks About His Viral AI Fashion Show for Seniors In an Interview With CNN Style". BN Style. 2023-03-02. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  4. 1 2 "Nigerian filmmaker uses AI to show elderly people in fashionable clothes, Hollywood costume designer is impressed". The Indian Express. 2023-01-16. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  5. Ukomadu, Angela (2023-01-30). "Nigerian artist uses AI to re-imagine life for the elderly". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  6. "Nigerian artist uses AI to re-imagine life for the elderly". euronews. 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  7. "The Nigerian AI artist reimagining a stylish old age". BBC News. 2023-01-15. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
  8. Alochi, Oscar (2023-01-20). "Meet Malik Afegbua The Nigerian AI Artist Redefining Fashion for The Older Generation's Style". African fashion. Retrieved 2023-03-05.