Ancestors Never Die Vol I – Empire Constellations

Ancestors Never Die is an ongoing conceptual mixed media project that reimagines ancestral presence through photography, data, and alternative processes. Each artwork features a portrait of an imagined ancestor surrounded by constellation-like visualisations based on real datasets of ancient African empires.

The portraits are generated using AI, trained on thousands of images of Afro-descendants, and lit using references from the artist’s own studio photography.
Each figure becomes a poetic synthesis of history, memory, and identity.
Around them, data visualisations in the form of constellations depict variables such as the empire’s duration, geographic spread, number of generations, location on the continent, and leadership gender.

All artworks are printed by hand as cyanotypes, a historical photographic process known for its deep Prussian blue tones.
Once associated with royalty and ceremony, this blue becomes a symbolic backdrop for ancestral tribute, merging digital tools with handmade printing to create images that feel both sacred and archival.

When the Beast Knocks

When the Beast Knocks is an artistic project by artist Mister Geez that centers around his experiences with cluster headaches, a debilitating condition characterized by intense, unilateral pain around the eye. As someone who suffers from this condition periodically, he was motivated by a desire to raise awareness and understanding about the Beast by creating a multifaceted artwork that would explore its impact on his life. To bring his vision to life, the artist embarked on a two-cycle project in 2018 and 2021, recording audio notes after each attack and using this data to create datasets that tracked key information about each episode, such as duration, intensity, and location. From these datasets, he created data visualizations that allowed him to identify patterns and gain new insights into his condition. He also created studio photographs of himself re-enacting attacks while playing the audio logs, which were then printed using the cyanotype alternative process to create striking, blue-toned images that contrasted with the harsh reality of the Beast. The resulting artwork offers a unique perspective on this little-understood condition and encourages viewers to engage with its impact on those who suffer from it.

Exhibited at:
– Muxima art space (Bow, London E3, 23rd – 30th March 2022)
– Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache (OUCH) Summer Conference (London School of Economics, 9th July 2023)