Salomé Gomis-Trezise alters her photography with AI to create mesmerising scenes

In Salomé Gomis-Trezise’s recent series, a picture really does tell a thousand words. Jumping from extravagant casinos and dimly lit clubs to bustling high streets, Salomé describes each moment as existing “like a short film”. Through the series, she focuses on how she could best tell such intricate stories with recognisable imagery, aiming to present her audience with “the chaos and absurdity we experience as humans”.

To complete the series, Salomé used AI; this was after spending a few days experimenting with various software before landing on one that worked best for her project. AI is currently a hot – and somewhat divisive topic – in the creative world, but for this project specifically, Salomé used AI to enhance and alter her own photography. Primarily, for Salomé, the process enabled her to experiment with her work without the limits of geography, cost or logistics.

She’s always been a photographer with a keen interest in sets and how they can dictate – or even create – a narrative. In our 2022 interview with Salomé, she shared how much effort she puts into sourcing and designing all her own sets. The recent series, therefore, was born out of the longing to “create elaborate sets, tell stories and create imagery I wish I had seen growing up”. Moreover, it was a way of reimagining and visualising personal memories, plus “the amazing landscapes and people I’ve been lucky enough to soak in while travelling”.

Highlighting a project she sees as being particularly successful, Salomé lands on the sub-series Something so strange about creek street. One of the images shows a family outside of a burning fire, the central figure ‘staring’ straight at the viewer, seemingly unperturbed by the blaze. “There’s just something so captivating and eerie about the image that lures you in,” Salomé says. “The colours, composition, everything is how I love it to be.” Salomé also highlights the sub-series Tokyo I Miss You, and its karaoke scene. Of its central character, Salomé says: “I love how she has such a deep heavy gaze – the light on her face, and colours of the image just make me feel something I can’t quite put my finger on.” This is perhaps the best way to describe the experiments as a whole – their ability to conjure feelings and emotions that are hard to place, but leave the viewer mesmerised, eager to learn more.

The series is one that has provided Salomé with a means of experimenting she previously didn’t know was possible. “It’s been so fun to see my ideas come to life in AI form, and I’ve kept experimenting and testing the limits of where I could take them,” she details. “I love learning new ways of bringing my ideas to life.” On how she hopes people view them, she explains to never really set any strict expectations or desires on how people respond to her work, but perhaps, much like her own experience, she hopes the series may “spark thoughts, evoke a feeling or maybe even bring back a memory”.