Last week I met a man who is drafting a book along the same themes as mine. He too has German roots and his is a remarkable story that I hope will one day be published. We discussed the fascinating process of researching historical content, and the more arduous one of finding an agent or publisher. In my case, both involved huge quantities of time, trawling through books, websites and the brick-like tome that is the handbook for writers. For him, information and guidance were more at his fingertips in the form of AI. The difference got me thinking. 

Part of me feels glad to have completed In My Grandfather’s Shadow before the tools of Chat GPT or Open AI became widely available, or indeed unavoidable in the case of search engines. The temptation to constantly tweak my own imperfect writing voice according to the suggestions of an entity that has absorbed millions of other people’s work – including my own by now – might have been irresistible. But how much time I would have saved. And online searches might have discovered my grandfather’s movements on the Italian front, all records of which at the time lay buried in the silence of Italy’s complex and unresolved history of collaboration and resistance. 

There is no doubt AI is unbelievably brilliant and useful in many areas. I am not anti-AI per se. But when it comes to making art, I worry about the loss of essential skills and faculties to a desire for ease and instant answers. What happens when colours and shapes are made by the same keyboard clicks that generate words, mathematical equations, spreadsheets, drone attacks or hacks? Of course, great art will come out it. Artists have always embraced modern technologies and fashioned them to express their own visions. David Hockney’s iPad works spring to mind. But how many of our multi-sensory human skills – coordination, balance, weight, instinctive rightness – might we lose?

While AI chatbots are becoming terrifyingly advanced, Grayson Perry’s insightful 2-parter on Channel 4 – Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future – reveals how physical robots are still lagging in emulating the complexities of simple actions we take for granted – like making a cup of tea. So much is involved to get brain and body to work together. When painting was part of my main profession, I revelled in the mixing of colours. Hands squeezed tubes, rinsed brushes, and spread paint onto canvas like buttering bread. Taste buds sprang into action, the tongue searching like a cook for the missing flavour… a little more darkness, a bit more warmth, maturity, or contrast. Colours needed to ‘sing’ particular harmonies or discords. The eye would journey over a terrain of textures while the nose inhaled the same oily odours of centuries of masters gone by. 

Maybe I am nostalgic. That could well be. Equally possible is that I am frustrated that though I have an all-singing iPad, I have not mastered the brilliant tools of Canva, Procreate or iMovie. Instead, I sit in my studio with scissors, glue, sticky fingers, and paper images strewn across the floor. I assemble and reassemble in contortions that resemble games of Twister. I destroy, lose and abandon works… often wishing there was a Command Z key I could tap to undo the error that led to ruination and the bin. 

I have no wish to be a fuddy-duddy doom monger like those who thought our heads would blow off when the motor car was introduced, or who mourned the loss of letters when the telephone was created… though there is loss as well as gain involved in both inventions. But my forthcoming exhibition CONVERSATIONS ACROSS TIME is distinctly handmade. And like IN PROCESS last autumn, it is experiential, small and intimate. 

Part of Stroud’s brilliant annual SITE Festival, it continues to tell the story of my intrepid great-great-aunt, Joan Margaret Legge, while exploring, in a variety of media, intergenerational relationships and the legacies of those who have gone before us.

I invite you to physically immerse yourself in The Vaults in Stroud Cemetery, or attend one of the events below that are linked to the themes explored. Or simply benefit from the advances in technology that will allow you to see some, (but not all) of it with a few clicks here from the comfort of your home! 

More INFO and TICKETS to events: Use QR codes below or click here: TALK… WALK… IN CONVERSATION

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