Beyond Sight is a series of prints that combine the traditional mediums of photography and paint with generative AI. The resulting illusory landscapes reflect the sensual satisfaction of immersing ourselves in nature while contemplating the role of technology and the precarious future of our natural environment. The creative process begins with source imagery taken in Gatineau Park and the Laurentian Mountains in Quebec, an area that has been a spiritual refuge since I was a child. Photographs, and watercolour drawings done on location are combined through collage and various digital manipulations. I have used AI-assisted simulations of my drawings and photos to add further abstraction to the imagery, prompting the computer algorithms to simulate extended growth seasons, hybrid plant forms and altered growth patterns to create a series of adaptations and alternative plant forms. The final digital images are intended to function as mysterious landscapes, nostalgic for human-nature connection, and hopeful odes to the future where technology may reconnect in positive ways with the natural environment and where nature can thrive in its wonder. With a 30-year multidisciplinary practice, Ottawa based artist Heidi Conrod has exhibited widely across Canada and the United States. Her work is included in both private and public collections.
