Medium: Interactive Narrative
Year: 2025
Presented at: CICA Museum, South Korea; Women Made Gallery, Chicago; SECAC Conference, Georgia
Press: Chicago Reader

Inspired by Ocean Vuong’s metaphor of medical terminologies’ equivalence to witchcraft and the inaccessibility of language through intergenerational assimilation: “We explained her diagnosis to her, about the tumors, the cells, metastasis. Nouns so abstract that we might as well have been describing witchcraft.” –On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

This project is an endeavor by the artist to futilely process her mother’s early passing through a brief interactive experience. It is reminiscent of choose-your-own-adventure games and features kinetic typography-focused backgrounds. The artist has politely asked ChatGPT, a generative AI tool known for its role in advancing deep fakes and plagiarism, to become her deceased mother who passed away in 2018 from pancreatic cancer. ChatGPT is My Mom plays with the frustrations of language through grotesque 3D typographical landscapes that challenge the smoothness and complexity associated with hegemonic computery aesthetics. Within these landscapes, the story created by the artist and ChatGPT fills the empty spaces between letters. While this work is part of the larger series, Nouns So Abstract, it can also be viewed on its own. By expanding upon the themes and techniques explored in the series, this project offers a rich and immersive experience for viewers, inviting them to reflect on the complexities of loss and language.