AI photography inspired by dementia forms student’s University exhibition

A University of Suffolk student has used a relative’s experience with dementia to shape her photography exhibition.

PhD student Eliza Stephen’s visual art project, Phantom Mirror, explores dementia, memory and identity through a process called AI phototherapy.

She said: “The project came from my experience of caring for a close family member with dementia.

“The work is developed through dialogue with artificial intelligence, translating lived experiences of caregiving, confusion and loss into symbolic images.

“Rather than documenting events directly, the images attempt to give form to psychological and emotional states that are difficult to photograph, such as disorientation, misrecognition and the gradual loss of a shared sense of reality.”

Eliza, who graduated from the University in Photography and Visual Media in 2025, added: “The process begins with spoken reflection. I describe what has happened or how I’m feeling, and this is then shaped into prompts that generate images.

“I move through these quickly, rejecting most of them until one produces a sense of recognition. In this way, the work transforms moments of emotional intensity into visual form, turning confusion into something that can be seen, held and reflected on.”

Eliza, from Aldeburgh, initially came to the University of Suffolk to study photography to learn how to take better photographs.

“As a mature student, returning to education later in life has been a huge step,” she said. “The University has played a huge role in shaping my practice.

“Access to professional printing, studio space and the incredible darkroom and analogue film facilities allowed me to explore a wide range of photographic processes in depth.

“More importantly, the course encouraged experimentation and critical thinking, which directly supported the development of AI phototherapy as a method and gave me the confidence to pursue it as a serious area of research.

“What feels most important about this work is that it began as a way of coping, as a way to process something very difficult. The fact that it has developed into an exhibition and now a PhD, shows how creative practice can open new ways of understanding and communicating complex human experiences.”

Since graduating, Eliza’s work was selected for Source Magazine’s Graduate Photography 2025 and published in the 20 Experimental Photographers for Analogue Magazine.  She was also awarded the BA (Hons) Photography Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement which includes a solo exhibition at the University of Suffolk gallery next year.

Later this month, Eliza will be taking part in a seminar with British artist Victor Burgin at Chester Photo Festival to discuss her work in a wider context.

The Phantom Mirror exhibition is running in the Waterfront Building foyer gallery. It is free entry and open to the public until 19 April.

For more information on the BA (Hons) Photography and Visual Media course, visit the website here

For further information about PhD study, visit the website here.