On present and absent photographs as the silent heroes of synthetic and social memories

This article outlines a visual research practice that integrates traditional photography and generative AI to investigate historical silences — specifically, a family episode from WWII marked by absence and loss. Departing from conventional photojournalism, the project Silent Hero explores how synthetic images, generated through Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), can engage with archival voids and memory transmission. The work interrogates whether the risks associated with deep fakes can be recontextualized as opportunities for speculative historical witnessing. Central to this inquiry are the artist book Seeing Against Seeing, which juxtaposes AI-generated WWII images with Ernst Friedrich’s 1924 anti-war book War Against War! and the film No One is Forgotten, where synthetic images are shown to living WWII veterans, prompting emotional recollection and reimagining of historical trauma. The essay situates these methods within a broader framework of multi-modal and multivocal knowledge production, critically examining the ethical and creative potential of non-human intelligence in reshaping visual narratives. Ultimately, this research proposes that emerging technologies, when used with intention, can generate new forms of memory work, specifically ones capable of disrupting dominant historical narratives and offering alternatives to fixed representations of conflict and loss.Footnote1