Emily Xie

Cresting Figure is a mixed digital media work that explores the space between abstraction and figuration, evoking a sense of movement, transformation, and cultural memory. The piece draws heavily from the visual traditions of Chinese embroidery: ornate detail, vibrant color palettes, and intricate patterns. It reinterprets these elements through the lens of contemporary digital practice. By integrating hand collage with algorithmic generation and AI-driven tools, the work becomes a layered synthesis of the traditional and the technological.

At its core, Cresting Figure reflects a dialogue between past and present. The embroidery-inspired patterns are not merely decorative; they serve as markers of cultural heritage, a practice once hand-stitched with intention and meaning. In this work, those motifs are fragmented and reassembled through digital processes. As these visual elements are recontextualized, a tension emerges—between rootedness and reinvention, tradition and transformation. Cresting Figure navigates a landscape of visual hybridity and layered histories, where inherited forms are continuously reshaped in contemporary expression.

The use of AI in this piece is not intended to depersonalize the creative process, but rather to extend it—echoing the collective, often anonymous labor behind traditional textile works. The process began with the generation of a wide array of images using AI, each one containing fragments of possibilities. Bits and pieces from these images were then digitally collaged to form a new visual foundation. This composite was subsequently run through custom JavaScript algorithms, introducing further layers of transformation. Though this step was algorithmic, the process remained tightly directed—shaped to yield specific juxtapositions and patterns that deepen the composition. The digital medium opens space for reimagining texture and form, where the known is refracted into something newly strange.