PhotoVogue Festival 2023: The Talks
This conversation took place on November 18th 2023 as part of the PhotoVogue Festival 2023 which centered around the theme “What Makes us Human?: Image in the Age of A.I.”
90 Miles is a post-photography AI reporting illustration experiment exploring historical events and realities of Cuban life that have motivated Cubans to cross the 90 miles of ocean separating Havana from Florida.
Since 1961, not long after Fidel Castro came to power and after the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, every year thousands of Cubans cross the 90 miles of ocean that separates Havana from Florida.
In 2022, Cuba experienced its largest exodus since the 1980s due to an ongoing economic crisis, with soaring inflation alongside shortages of food and medicine.
The Cubans who attempt the crossing are incredibly resourceful, as necessary to the journey and as reflected in rafts often assembled from inner tubes, pieces of wood and plastic, household supplies, etc.
For over 25 years, MCB kept a list of subjects he desired to document though was unable to, mainly due to access.
While working in Cuba from 2014-2016, he added more subjects to the list, including the story of 90 Miles, with the assumption they would likely never be created.
Publications have long used reportage illustrations (RI) to illuminate stories in fresh ways, and 90 Miles may reflect a novel way to translate narratives into photographic looking imagery, connecting people with important stories of our time.
Anyone may now create lensless, photo-realistic reportage illustrations on any subject anywhere, at any time, collaborating with a collective history of photography to illustrate the photographed world and create a vision of what was, is or can be.
Michael Christopher Brown (MCB) is an American photographer and artist. Raised in the Skagit Valley, a farming community in Washington State, he became known for his extensive use of an iPhone as a primary reporting device, including during the 2011 Libyan Revolution. This documentation led to the monograph Libyan Sugar (2016), which won the Paris Photo Book Award and the ICP Infinity Award. A National Geographic Photographer since 2004 and a former associate photographer with Magnum Photos, he was the main character of the Michael Mann directed HBO documentary Witness: Libya and a contributing cinematographer to several conflict based documentaries, including Hondros, Which way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, This is Congo and others. In 2018, Damiani published his book Yo Soy Fidel, a week long journey documenting the cortège of Fidel Castro. In 2023, Twin Palms will publish Ondas, on youth in the Cuban electronic music scene. MCB is the creator of 90 Miles and has exhibited in museums, galleries and exhibitions around the world. He lives in Los Angeles and is father to a beautiful four year old daughter, Poppy.
“90 Miles - A.I. Reportage Illustration” is part of day 2 "Picturing the Future: A.I. and the Evolution of Visual Storytelling" of the Symposium taking place at BASE Milano on Saturday 18th November.
The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
The recording of this panel will be uploaded after the Festival.
Saturday 18th November - Day 2 “Picturing the Future: A.I. and the Evolution of Visual Storytelling” will also feature:
- “Blending ART + SCIENCE: A Human Approach towards the Future of Creativity” by Alessandra Sala
- “Pretty Girls Look Like This: A.I., Photography and Racism within digital media” Mutale Nkonde
- "90 Miles - A.I. Reportage Illustration” Michael Christopher Brown
- “Broken Mirror. A dystopian guide to crossing the border” Filippo Venturi
- “Making the invisible, visible: Pictures as the most powerful force for change.” Nicki Lees
- "Envisioning Tomorrow: A.I. and the Future of Visual Narratives", Group discussion
- “What Makes Us Human?” with Paola Mieli, Paolo Benanti, and Giacomo Rizzolatti
PhotoVogue Festival is a project directed by Alessia Glaviano (Head of Global PhotoVogue) and co-curated by Francesca Marani (Senior Photo Editor, Vogue Italia), Chiara Bardelli Nonino (Editor, Writer and Curator), Daniel Rodríguez Gordillo (Content Operations Strategy Manager, Condé Nast) and Caterina De Biasio (Visual Editor, PhotoVogue)
