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Combining generative AI with personal family archives to consider transgenerational trauma
Sabrina Tirvengadum’s work is driven by a desire to reconstruct the lost history of her Mauritian ancestors, a past deeply intertwined with the legacy of indentured labour in British-colonised Mauritius. Tirvengadum has few images of her family prior to the 1960s. To reconstruct her family album, she trained an AI model on the photographs that do exist from her personal archive and wider extended family network, prompting generative AI to visualise her family’s lost history.
In this image, Tirvengadum explains: “When looking over images from my family archive I’d noticed a recurrent scene, of mothers and children posing with dolls or soft toys. As I began learning more about the history of indentured labour, I discovered that children as young as five were expected to work on plantations. The repetition of this pose started to feel like a trace of generational trauma and a symbol of stolen childhood. These photographs show how we have learned to present ourselves, shaped by our family histories.”
This work was developed during Tirvengadum’s participation in the Autograph x Light Work artist-in-residence and joins 10 other of her works which are now cared for as part of Autograph’s collection.
Sabrina Tirvengadum (b. 1984) is a deaf British Mauritian visual artist based in London, working across collage, digital illustration, generative AI, graphic design and photography. Her artistic practice explores her family history in Mauritius and reflects on the impacts of colonialism, diaspora, and archival absence. Through visual storytelling, she explores themes of identity, belonging, and intergenerational memory.
With a degree in Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster and a career in graphic design, Tirvengadum’s practice bridges personal experience with broader social histories. She is the founder of WAH, a platform that promotes inclusivity in digital spaces. Her art offers a vivid and honest portrait of what it means to reclaim presence, both for herself and for those historically left out of the frame.
10 Oct 2025 – 21 Mar 2026
A free exhibition examining political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage
Syracuse, New York
Artist Sabrina Tirvengadum was selected for the 2025 Autograph / Light Work artist residency, to support the development of her work
Image on page: Sabrina Tirvengadum, Pose for our Family, 2025. Collection of Autograph, London. © and courtesy of the artist.
About the artist: Image courtesy Sabrina Tirvengadum.
Exhibition: Thato Toeba, Man on Fire, 2017. © and courtesy the artist.
Residency: Sabrina Tirvengadum and Mark Allred, A Posh Summer [detail], 2023. © and courtesy the artist.
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