Projects SI 28/Love Machine

Public-Event/The-Love-Machine

Participants: Phillip

Description

I use AI to write my novel, and then I use AI again to create images for a picture storybook. The prompts are heavily supervised by me, so it is based on my own plot, story, and characters. It includes original storyline as well, and some scenes in the picture storybook are not in my original novel. The story conveys touch as an important means to show love, such as hugging and kissing. It also explores the human condition and what is instinctive. What you do out of heart and what you do just because it is the right thing can be two very different things. I also liked to explore what other people perceive as love and how they feel loved. I do this by engaging with the audience.

This chapter explores how my main character, Clara, travels around the world, interacting with various cultures and indigenous tribes such as the Awa tribe, the Inuits, The Tibetans, and Native Americans. I did research on their customs and traditions, and how endangered and isolated they are. The Awa tribe for example is based in the Amazon Rainforest and is so isolated that some of them are uncontacted, which would make reach much more difficult since it could cause disease and widespread epidemic. Only a handful are contacted and vaccinated which makes it easier for Clara to reach them. Even then, they are wary of outsiders due to their experience with illegal loggers, and armed groups. The Sentinelese are another example of an uncontacted tribe that chose isolation willingly and has been isolated for centuries. They are protected under international law and any contact with them could risk widespread disease and unintended death. They are isolated for survival. Because of these issues, my character cannot always use touch to get close to them. Instead, she learns their customs and practices, and helping them in everyday life. The Maori in Polynesia, for example, use the honghi as a method to show love and respect for one another. This comes when two individuals from the same tribe touch their foreheads while holding arms. The point that I want to make is that my character breaks boundaries with her love to reach outcasts and those who are isolated, even getting married to an outcast of an already isolated tribe. This outcast possesses Down Syndrome and a disability. My intention is not to promote stereotype but to make a point that true love looks past and breaks stereotypes. The character then goes on to save people during natural disasters and worldwide chaos and issues, often sheltering them with her own body and choosing to sacrifice herself. I researched different issues that parts of the world faces, such as the Haiti earthquake, the Banda Aceh tsunami, a volcanic eruption in Iceland, a typhoon disaster in the Philippines, the Ethiopian drought and famine, the Californian wildfire, the Covid pandemic, refugee crises and displacement such as the Rohingya tribe in Myanmar facing persecution and genocide, and the Syrian refugee crisis, and several wars including the Vietnam War, Agent Orange victims, ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These scenes are based on real world events and real life issues which makes them sensitive to some readers as they show distressing images.

This chapter is part of my wider arc, my second book, Death in London, which touches on the present day when Clara has died as London's guardian superhero and the public is mourning her and paying tribute by remembering her past.