Countering unfavourable stereotypes associated with traditionalist, opinionated and nagging aunties and providing alternate futures for women who impose limitations on themselves, repress their desires and hold back from chasing their dreams, Singaporean AI artist and designer Niceaunties elevates these often overlooked figures who play pivotal roles in community and family life in many Asian cultures.
Her artwork captures the spirit of these older women, who embody resilience, wisdom, and vibrancy. They propose multi-layered parallel realities in which they rebel against societal norms, let go of all inhibitions, take risks, and follow their interests with boundless energy.
However, these aren’t real-life aunties or ordinary experiences. Instead, Niceaunties has created an over-the-top, fictional Auntie-verse run and built by wild and wacky aunties straight out of her imagination — with plenty of help from AI.
Aunties go for spa days wrapped in sushi; balance improbable and unwieldy hairdos thanks to super-strength hair spray; save orangutans from the destruction of their habitats due to palm oil production; navigate a world overrun with plastic waste where birds and fish have turned into plastic; and socialise and enjoy city life viewed through high-rise building cross-sections.
Whatever these exuberant aunties get up to, they fearlessly assert their larger-than-life personalities.
Empowering with surrealism
A tribute to women’s strength and individuality, Niceaunties is not just the artist’s moniker but also an art project about joyful ageing, beauty, personal freedom and fun. “I wanted to challenge myself by bringing an alternative, light-hearted perspective, showing the endearing and ‘cute’ side of aunties,” she says.
“Perhaps I was trying to change my mind about aunties and my fear of becoming one. I wanted to imagine the alternative lives suppressed beings could live, loosely based on the women in my life. This likely reflects my desire to live a life where I can freely pursue my passions.”
That’s exactly what she did when she took the plunge and embraced her artistic calling after coming across graphically and conceptually outstanding AI images on Instagram in late 2022. Deciding to give it a go in January 2023, she began with Midjourney and other AI text-to-image prompting and video-generating programmes. She was immediately hooked, finding the experience entirely liberating.
Much like the surrealist movement, founded a century ago by André Breton and other visionary artists, who revolutionised the art scene by exploring the unconscious and defying the logical world of reason, Niceaunties reinvents the art of dreams and the imaginary, with healthy doses of humour, to project a new reality.
Niceaunties propose multi-layered parallel realities in which older aunties rebel against societal norms and let go of all inhibitions.
“My art tends to be a collage of things and objects that do not typically exist together, such as sushi and legs,” she notes. “I also enjoy the feeling of strange things seeming normal in dreams, only to appear strange upon waking. I express this surreal juxtaposition in my work.”
Take, for example, her whimsical video Aioli Times, which tells the coming-of-age story of a stiletto-wearing garlic character with a dream of being a top model who then falls over on the fashion runway, or auntie’s robotic multipurpose camel that serves as a time machine that takes her on a journey across landscapes of dessert-strewn deserts.
An exploration of “auntie culture”
Born in 1981 in Singapore, Niceaunties lived with grandparents, aunties, and uncles until the age of nine while her parents worked. She was raised and heavily influenced by the women of her household. She recalls, “This matriarchal environment, where women played a central role in childcare and household management, shaped my worldview. I observed the women prioritising family over their careers, especially after having children. Most of them, including my mother, stopped working to become full-time housewives.”
Her childhood was characterised by structure and discipline — emblematic of a Chinese family — and she followed a predetermined path to success dictated by society. This led to a more than two-decade career in the structured and disciplined field of architecture. She is a partner and director of Spark Architects today.
The artist explains why she focuses on aunties: “It started as a fun project, imagining and constructing a positive alternative story to the term ‘auntie’, which was often viewed negatively. I was also trying to understand why auntie culture exists and why aunties behave in certain ways, particularly when it involves criticism or unsolicited comments.”
Drawing inspiration from her 11 aunties, mother, and late grandmother and their everyday lives and concealed talents, her process is one of play and experimentation. While she introduces original storylines, AI generates unexpected forms, compositions, narratives, and details that add depth and complexity to her art, facilitating individual expression with incredible speed and ease.
Embracing the fluidity of creation, she was attracted by how she could instantaneously transform her thoughts and dreams into images and videos. “I realised AI is a great way to express my observations over the years on how women suppress, control, beautify and shape themselves, often through self-imposed restrictions and rules,” she states.
“With so much accumulated inside, it became a natural subject matter, especially since AI felt like the shortest path between my ideas and the visuals.”
A visionary path forward
With its reverent and empowering portrayal of everyday heroines, Niceaunties’ art inspires and resonates, underscoring that life’s later years can be full of contentment, creativity, and freedom.
“I hope to bring people new energy and inspire them to celebrate their uniqueness and the joy of self-expression,” she concludes.
After lighting up the Times Square Billboard in New York City with her AI videos, Niceaunties is now taking on Hollywood with the film Aunties on Sunset playing on the billboard at 9157 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles until September 30, 2024. Closer to home, she will exhibit in a group show at the ArtScience Museum in September.
