List of figures
Figure 7.1: Azul–Nicolás Jiménez Reyes, A Man and a Woman with Their Eyes Closed, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 7.2: Azul–Nicolás Jiménez Reyes, Dance to the Universe, acrylic painting on canvas, 2020.
Figure 8.1: Lucian de Silenttio, top: Bernal Capchiri; bottom: Andean Samurai, images generated with Midjourney v.5.2, July 2023.
Figure 8.2: Lucian de Silenttio, The Khari Khari, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, June 2023.
Figure 8.3: Lucian de Silenttio, Sandalio Torrez Quispe, left: photograph, 2009; right: as a child, image generated with Midjourney v.5.2, November 2023.
Figure 8.4: Lucian de Silenttio, left: photograph of Andean Jalq’a textile with needle and thimble; right: Futuristic Indigenous Person, image generated with Midjourney v.5.2, November 2023.
Figure 8.5: Lucian de Silenttio, top: Balls of Wool, image generated with Midjourney v.5.2, November 2023; bottom: Accidental Wiphala, image generated with Midjourney v.6.0, July 2024.
Figure 9.1: Haylly Zamora Aray, top: Puma Man, oil painting, June 2023; centre and bottom: images generated with Midjourney v.5.2, June 2023.
Figure 9.2: Haylly Zamora Aray, top: Woman with Wiphala, acrylic painting, July 2023; centre: image generated with Stable Diffusion, July 2023; bottom: image generated with Midjourney v.6.0, March 2024.
Figure 9.3: Haylly Zamora Aray, top left and right: photos of Wichí textiles; bottom left: Wichí Dragon, image generated with the IndigenIA prototype; bottom right: photo of traditional Wichí craftwork, June 2025.
Figure 10.1: Tadeu Kaingang, The Cosmoforest, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figures 10.2–10.4: Tadeu Kaingang, Kaingang Family I–III, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 11.1: Mariela Tulián, left: front cover of Little Francisca: A Comechingón Story, illustrated by Luz Julieta Altina Tulián, 2022; right: front cover of Imagine: Little Francisca in Abya Yala, edited with Horacio Montes de Oca Ayala and illustrated with an image generated by Mariela Tulián and Sebastián Gerlic with Midjourney v.5.2, 2023.
Figure 11.2: Mariela Tulián, two book covers in the Little Francisca series, designed with various generative AI tools, 2024–2025.
Figure 11.3: Mariela Tulián, three images generated with the model ‘mariela_1’ with the IndigenIA prototype, showing ‘Mariela’ at different ages and in different genders, 2024.
Figure 11.4: Mariela Tulián, two images generated with the model ‘mariela_1’ with the IndigenIA prototype, showing the problems with generating Indigenous braids and headbands, 2024.
Figure 12.1: Nhenety Kariri-Xocó, The Kariri-Xocó Native Gods, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 12.2: Nhenety Kariri-Xocó, two covers made with ChatGPT in the Indigenous digital realism style for stories published on his blog: ‘Mekuá: Body Painting as the Living “Brand” of Our People’, 29 June 2025; and ‘Pepéwahimy: Using One’s Hands to Play with Images Made of Light’, 8 July 2025.
Figure 12.3: Nhenety Kariri-Xocó, two covers made with ChatGPT in a photorealist style for stories published on his blog: ‘Uanie Dawí Dehó Canghité Caraí: Indigenous Person Uses White People’s Things’, 17 July 2025; and ‘Pohiesawa: Big Eye Records Images’, 6 July 2025.
Figure 12.4: Nhenety Kariri-Xocó, Indigenous Village, top: pencil drawing, 12 June 2025; bottom: image generated with ChatGPT based on the drawing, published on the author’s blog as ‘Caminhos da Colônia’ [The Village Streets], 12 June 2025.
Figure 13.1: Mapuche women wearing silver jewellery, Gustavo Milet Ramírez’s studio, Traiguen, Chile, ca. 1900. Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, Leiden, the Netherlands. Collection Wereldmuseum, nos. RV-A299-11 and RV-A299-19.
Figure 13.2: Thea Pitman, images of Amazonian and Andean women and children, generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 13.3: Left: Mapuche Longko [chief], photograph by Fernando Maximiliano Valck Wiegand, Santiago de Chile, 1880. Museo Histórico Nacional, Santiago de Chile. Collection no. Fb-4363. Right: Mapuche women and child preparing food, posing against screen, Gustavo Milet Ramírez’s studio, Traiguen, Chile, ca. 1900. Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen, Leiden, the Netherlands. Collection Wereldmuseum, no. RV-A299-14.
Figure 13.4: Lucian de Silenttio, Man on Mountain Top, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 13.5: Loreto Millalén, People Working with Medicinal Plants, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 13.6: Top: Aymar Ccopacatty, Aymara Grandfather Walking by Lake Titicaca, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023. Bottom: Cicilio Ccopacati Quispe, Puno, Peru, ca. 1980. Photo: Aymar Ccopacatty.
Figure 14.1: Multiple authors, some of the first images generated as part of the AIAI project on Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 14.2: Top: Mariela Tulián and Sebastián Gerlic, series of La Pequeña Francisca character images generated with Midjourney v. 5.2, October 2023. Bottom: Lucian de Silenttio, series of Andean samurai cat images generated with Midjourney v.6.0, July 2024.
Figure 14.3: Tadeu Kaingang, Wera Moru Tupi-Guarani and Kuenan Mayu respectively, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, June 2023, with prompts consisting of the artists’ ethnicities respectively.
Figure 14.4: Sebastián Gerlic, screenshot of Midjourney refusing to generate a drawing based on an original photograph by Kadu Tapuya, October 2023.
Figure 14.5: Sebastián Gerlic, the process of working around Midjourney’s content filters, October 2023.
Figure 14.6: Top: Theodore de Bry, Women Preparing Potion, coloured engraving from Americae tertia pars memorabilẽ provinciæ Brasiliæ historiam continẽs (1562). Service Historique de la Marine, Vincennes, France. Photo: Bridgeman Images, asset no. XIR194996. Bottom: Kadu Tapuya, image generated with Midjourney v.5.2, September 2023, based on Theodore de Bry’s engraving.
Figure 14.7: Kadu Tapuya, series of images generated with Midjourney v.5.2, September 2023, evidencing his Indigenous Futurist style.
Figure 15.1: Dave Lynch, Ed the Dog, March 2024. Top left: original photograph; top right and bottom left and right: images generated with the IndigenIA prototype.
Figure 15.2: Top: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy and Dave Lynch generating images using the IndigenIA prototype, May 2024. Bottom: Mariela Tulián, Self-portrait with Dragon, image generated with the IndigenIA prototype, May–June 2024.
Figure 16.1: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy, two examples of work in progress made with the ‘eawayo’ model on the IndigenIA prototype, May–June 2024.
Figure 16.2: Top: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy and Selma Batista Ferreira, Tupã, malleable fibre-optic cable and LEDs, 2018. Bottom: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy, an example of the results achieved with the ‘TU-PA’ model on the IndigenIA prototype, May–June 2024.
Figure 16.3: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy, top: Illarini (2018), luminous interactive textile installation; bottom: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy, an example of the results achieved with the ‘illarini_cloth’ model on the IndigenIA prototype, May–June 2024.
Figure 16.4: Top: Ayra Ymboré, Multiethnic Conservation of the Planet, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023. Bottom: Wera Moru Tupi-Guarani, Tupi-Guarani People in the City, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 16.5: Haylly Zamora Aray, Indigenous Village Scene at Night, image generated with Midjourney v.5.1, May 2023.
Figure 16.6: Horacio Montes de Oca Ayala, top: Futuristic Landscape; bottom: Futuristic Aymara Landscape, images generated with Midjourney v.5.0, May 2023.
Figure 16.7: Kuenan Mayu, Amazonian Indigenous Futurist Scenes, images generated with Midjourney v.5.1, June 2023.
Figure 16.8: Kadu Tapuya, top: Indigenous Futurist Scene, image generated with Midjourney v.5.2, September 2023; bottom: The Dance of the Cabocos, digital collage made with Photoshop, 2019.
Figure 18.1: The early AIAI materials on display at the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, July 2024. Photo: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy.
Figure 18.2: Materials relating to the design of the IndigenIA prototype on display at the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, July 2024. Photo: aruma|Sandra De Berduccy.
Figure 18.3: The exhibition of the AIAI project at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, November 2024. Photos: Andreas Rauh.
Figure 18.4: Two posters from the AIAI exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland featuring images generated from prompts by Kuenan Mayu and Aymar Ccopacatty. Poster design: Andreas Rauh.