“‘Proof of Spirit — Act II’ is the second installment of my longitudinal art exploration on the concept of Àshe via the Proof of Spirit series, which was first unveiled at La Biennale di Venezia 2022. Àshe is characterized by intuitively drawn, fluid lines that flow in and out of each other, forming a nexus of distinct patterns, discernible beings, hidden motifs, and embedded symbols. The style borrows its name and philosophy from the Yoruba concept of Àshe, which represents the life energy that animates all that exists, and that connects us all as one.
I began the series by creating 1,024 handmade Àshe drawings on paper, which were scanned and then used as the dataset for training a machine learning algorithm. This was done to investigate a number of different questions, principally whether or not the machine could be imbued with the “spiritual intelligence” of Àshe and then create work in my likeness. A selection of the initial results of the training were then exhibited at The Ghana Pavilion of La Biennale, via an installation of a robotic arm, which drew the machine learning interpretations of Àshe live, every single day during the course of the exhibition.
‘Proof of Spirit — Act II’ also features a curated set of the first results of the ML training, and will be the first time people can actually digitally collect work from the Àshe series, which began in 2014. It serves as a significant milestone for the ongoing project, as it makes its way into the cryptoverse. And as Àshe keeps evolving as a visual language and body of work investigating the concepts of change and oneness, expect it to continue its metamorphosis as it absorbs, reconstitutes, and reimagines all that flows through it.” — Afroscope
