Minne Atairu's augmented reality work "Deshrined Ancestors" (2024) was featured in the group exhibition "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" at REDCAT in Los Angeles. The piece is a speculative 3D rendering of a Benin bronze, created using AI trained on archives and oral histories, designed to fill the gap left by looted artifacts. Atairu, born in Benin, Nigeria, uses tools like Midjourney and Blender to generate artworks that address colonial violence and erasure, including her 2023 installation "To the Hand" at The Shed. The exhibition explores humanity's evolving relationship with AI, and Atairu's work includes an empty podium representing a Benin bronze returned to Nigeria from RISD.
This matters because Atairu's practice offers a reparative gesture rather than mere critique, using AI to remedy the wounds of colonial violence and the ongoing legacy of the 1897 British invasion that scattered Benin bronzes across Western museums. By creating speculative prototypes and engaging with repatriation calls, she challenges the art world's historical complicity in looting and raises urgent questions about the role of technology in cultural restitution. Her work also confronts racial biases in AI systems, insisting that communities of color must shape these tools to avoid further trauma, making her practice a model for ethical, restorative art in the digital age.