Ben Millar Cole, 2025, photography
In 1993, Jeff Wall spent over a year orchestrating actors and combining 50 photographs for A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai). Today, AI generates similar compositions in seconds. My series After Wall transforms these balanced human arrangements into fungal-like tableaux, exploring shifting concepts of authorship and artistic value in the AI era.
Wall’s work synthesises references from cinema, literature, and painting. I extend this chain through AI, using his compositions as creative prompts. Prompt-writing — a nuanced practice that exists somewhere between programming, poetics, and visual composition — requires deep engagement with AI’s interpretative logic. Subtle shifts in phrasing profoundly alter outcomes, making prompt-writing an intuitive, iterative dialogue.
I use fungi metaphorically, inspired by forest networks — the Wood Wide Web — to replace Wall’s human figures with fungal blooms. These organic forms evoke decay, regeneration, and transformation. By recasting human-centric compositions with organic proliferation, I move away from the concept of the sole creative genius, tipping towards a more collaborative, interconnected vision for creativity. Just as fungi enable trees to exchange resources, AI facilitates the flow and evolution of artistic ideas.
My work explores a broader creative ecology, blending individual vision with collective intelligence, emphasising dialogue between natural and technological systems over hierarchy.
Wall’s work synthesises references from cinema, literature, and painting. I extend this chain through AI, using his compositions as creative prompts. Prompt-writing — a nuanced practice that exists somewhere between programming, poetics, and visual composition — requires deep engagement with AI’s interpretative logic. Subtle shifts in phrasing profoundly alter outcomes, making prompt-writing an intuitive, iterative dialogue.
I use fungi metaphorically, inspired by forest networks — the Wood Wide Web — to replace Wall’s human figures with fungal blooms. These organic forms evoke decay, regeneration, and transformation. By recasting human-centric compositions with organic proliferation, I move away from the concept of the sole creative genius, tipping towards a more collaborative, interconnected vision for creativity. Just as fungi enable trees to exchange resources, AI facilitates the flow and evolution of artistic ideas.
My work explores a broader creative ecology, blending individual vision with collective intelligence, emphasising dialogue between natural and technological systems over hierarchy.
Ben Millar Cole is a photographer exploring the intersection of visual arts and technology. Collaborating with AI since 2017, he is drawn not to seamless simulation but to the creative potential of errors, breakdowns, and unexpected outcomes. His work reimagines photographic traditions through AI, blending digital image-making, sculptural composition, and print processes to examine how human and machine creativity intertwine. Ben’s work has been exhibited at the California Museum of Photography, Palmer Gallery, and Rencontres d'Arles, and received the 2023 Wallpaper* AI-Generated Design Award. His photobook One Horse Landed won the Belfast Photobook Prize and was featured in European Photography magazine.
benmillarcole.com
@benmillarcole
benmillarcole.com
@benmillarcole