Nigerian Artist Reimagining Elderly Life With Artificial Intelligence

By showing nearly real-life images and videos of elderly Africans going down the catwalk and on the beach, a Nigerian artist is utilising artificial intelligence to re-imagine life for elderly people in Africa.

Malik Afegbua, a film director who also works with the elderly, said he started imagining how they might appear as models because so many elderly people are marginalised in society, particularly in the fashion industry.

Afegbua began sharing some of his work on social media, and it quickly gained popularity.

He created the "Elders Series," a collection of images and movies that feature white-haired women and bearded men walking the catwalk for a fictitious fashion show while wearing Afrocentric clothing, including decorative arm and neck bands.

“So I wanted to … imagine the elderly people in a place that is not either in a sad space or in a suppressed state,” Afegbua told Reuters.

“However, when I was making it, I kind of knew there was something there. I was like this is dope. I’m loving what I’m seeing.”

Afegbua wasn't always a creative person. In college, he majored in business, but after receiving a camera from a buddy in 2011, he began making movies.

He claimed that when his elderly mother became unwell, the notion to investigate a separate environment for the elderly first emerged. He began producing content depicting a more positive side of ageing using an artificial intelligence programme.