ORIENTATION

This work contains an image created using a deep learning model depicting a desert landscape with palm trees, in the style of a war bond. The image refers to posters from early 20th-century Jerusalem and Israeli art from that period, using similar materials like the copper that was widely used at that time.

"Orientation" offers a view of how an external perspective flattens a place into orientalist symbols. This process also occurs in deep learning models, where the model learns from the information we provide and replicates the orientalist views of the West on the East. In this work, the palm trees and desert landscape symbolize the Orient as perceived by the West—an exotic and distant place. The image is not only a collective memory but also shows how technology reproduces and solidifies existing thought patterns, emphasizing the power of images in shaping cultural and historical perceptions.

By referring to these posters and artworks, it is also inspired by propaganda campaigns that carry an external "Western" perspective and serve as a tool to shape collective memory and public consciousness.
The image serves a political interest, which is part of the overall narrative ingrained in deep learning models, echoing that ancient sin.