Verneda Lights’ new Afrofuturistic, Afrosurreal collection, “Caterpillar Dreams,” uses AI to tell a story of a caterpillar who changes its destiny to become part girl, and part butterfly.
At the Crossroads of Technology and Fine Art
Verneda Lights, CEO of E-graphX Omnimedia in Port Royal, SC, creates where technology and fine art meet. A retired physician, science writer, techspressionist, and griot of the Gullahgeechee Nation, Lights weaves a tapestry of digital and traditional art, photography, and history. Focusing on Afrosurreal, Afro-futuristic, and Post-Gullah-Art styles, she blends tradition with avant-garde exploration.
In her new project, “Caterpillar Dreams,” Lights uses ChatGPT and Night Café’s AI platforms, to explore the transformative power of the Overview Effect, kairos time, and Jungian synchronicity through poetry and digital paintings. This narrative aims to inspire positive change and reshape perspectives. In this fable, a lowly caterpillar overhears a telepathic conversation between a young Black girl and a butterfly. Inspired, the caterpillar changes its destiny, evolving into a hybrid being with qualities of both.
“Caterpillar Dreams,” first presented at Yale’s 2023 Ultraspace Symposium at Yale’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM), will soon be available in print and online. Lights is excited about its inclusion in the Ultra Space Symposium’s Printed Volume. CCAM will release the Printed Volume during the Ultra Space Symposium, in April 2024. In addition, the 3D exhibit for “Caterpillar Dreams” will go live at Cyberiana, a new Web 3 gallery collective formed by techspressionist artists, in early 2024. Cyberiana has the additional distinction of being included as pavilion in The Wrong Biennale. Cyberiana opens December 30th. The opening event happens at 1-4 PM, EST.
Cyberiana opens December 30th, 2023. Visit HTTPS://cyberiana.studio
Experienced in Traditional and Digital Fine Art
With 20 years’ experience in traditional and digital fine art, Lights recently embraced collaboration with artificial intelligence platforms. Over the past seven years, her work graced renowned venues like the Whitney Biennial, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, and the Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, showcasing her global impact. A Bryn Mawr College graduate with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Strayer University, Lights also holds a certificate in International Arts Management from NYU’s Steinhardt School, Deusto University Business School, and the Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao). Featured in National Geographic and other publications, Lights looks forward to further exploring the fusion of tradition and innovation in the contemporary art landscape.
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