The Weird and Wonderful Art of Niceaunties | TED

Auntie 1: Why are you still single?

(Laughter)

Auntie 2: How much do you earn?

(Laughter)

Auntie 3: You look fat.

(Laughter)

Niceaunties: I just love aunties.

(Laughter)

Some of my aunties, I only see during Chinese New Year.

I used to brace myself for inquisition prior to family gatherings.

They call you fat

but present you with platters of delicious food,

made with love and great skill.

This is exasperating and endearing.

I'm not alone in this.

This behavior and line of questioning

is so common we even have memes for it.

I grew up in a big family, where the women,

my late grandmother, my mother and some of my 11 aunties,

were expected to take care of children.

They were big influences in my life,

and I witnessed great personalities,

strength, eccentricity and humor.

They held back from fully expressing themselves because of societal pressures,

family expectations and lack of support.

My grandma spent most of her life at home.

She did not travel and had little contact with the outside world.

In the last 20 years of her life,

she had dementia and was bedridden.

I often imagined her in an alternate reality,

where she's out and about, having fun,

laughing, chatting, enjoying life.

But aunties are not just about family.

Anyone of any age, of any culture, can be labelled an auntie.

It is not something you really want to be associated with.

(Laughter)

As it could mean you’re old-fashioned,

rigid in your thinking or naggy.

So it is rather negative to be called one.

Women of my generation live in fear of being labeled an auntie.

But what if you could change this perception,

turning it from dread to something fun and positive?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Thank you.

I'm a designer from Singapore,

and in the last year, also an artist.

I came across some intriguing and beautiful images on social media

and then found out they were made with AI.

Curious about what AI could do, I found a program, I signed up,

I keyed in some words,

and within seconds, images appeared.

I was amazed and mesmerized.

(Laughter)

Never before have I found a medium that felt like the shortest path

between my ideas and the visual.

It became addictive.

Rather than just making images, I wanted to do more with this tool,

to tell stories about auntie culture.

My mother engages in many social activities.

She is very active,

a result of her mother's immobility and limited life.

She dances and performs

just like the aunties do in Singapore's parks every day.

This was a huge inspiration for me.

So "Niceaunties" was born,

a project about freedom, exuberance,

self-expression and fun.

It is a lighthearted perspective on the joyful side of auntie life.

Also a surreal narrative, loosely based on the women in my family,

their social lives, their relationships, their quirks, humor,

and, of course, food.

In the last 20 years, I worked in architecture,

a profession of discipline, rules and clients.

I always worked in a team.

It was about fulfilling the client's brief and budgets.

With AI, it's just me.

It's a breath of fresh air.

This lack of restraint

has transported me to an imaginary world,

where my aunties can live freely as themselves,

where anything fun can and does happen.

For instance, aunties in public places,

taking photos with sculptures in absurd ways.

This is a common sight.

A typical holiday photo becomes aunties trying to kiss the moon,

but failing badly.

(Laughter)

Over the course of a year --

(Laughter)

instead of designing buildings,

I developed “Niceaunties” into a world-building project:

the “Auntieverse.”

(Laughter)

Just like in any world,

there are cities, citizens, their lives and their culture.

(Laughter)

Auntieverse is partly inspired by Singapore,

where acronyms are used for everything.

A sentence would typically sound like:

"I'm going to take the MRT to the NTUC near my mom's HDB to avoid the ERP."

In the Auntieverse,

we have Tofu-Engineered Sushi Luxury Autos,

aka TESLA.

(Laughter)

It's a transportation factory --

(Laughter)

where aunties assemble food and legs

to create vehicles running on leg power.

(Laughter)

It's very sustainable.

(Laughter)

In Chinese dialects, "legs" have the same sound as "cars,"

so a common joke would be to say, “Let’s get around on our own cars.”

Meaning we can move around on our own legs,

implying self-reliance.

So I imagine at TESLA,

we have the usual car assembly, a car wash

and, of course, a car junkyard.

But legs don't just move cars around in the Auntieverse.

Buildings use them too,

as do animals and vegetables.

(Laughter)

Another destination in the Auntieverse is MoMA,

the Museum of Modern Aunties ...

(Laughter)

Where modern auntie culture is celebrated.

This is a social space where aunties gather, hang out, eat, chitchat,

have fun, chillax.

So one day, I said to my mother

that she should show others how to make, and then sell, her delicious food.

She said “No lah, too tired.”

So I imagined NASA, Nice Auntie Sushi Academy --

(Laughter)

A culinary school on the moon,

where aunties share their cooking skills.

Here, amazing food is made available for all, 24-7.

Aunties in training learn how to forage fresh ingredients on the moon,

how to slice fish,

and the cat will ensure all lessons go according to plan.

(Laughter)

But food isn't just used for eating --

(Laughter)

In the Auntieverse.

It's used for all kinds of relaxing activities.

I would love to soak in this ramen hot tub with my aunties.

(Laughter)

Well, sushi is used extensively in Auntie Spa

for all kinds of beauty treatments and relaxing body wraps,

a reference to many aunties' beauty tips,

like putting cucumbers and other foods on their faces and bodies.

Personally, I have been rubbed down in coffee grounds,

and then wrapped in cling film.

It's very unsettling.

(Laughter)

Along with many beauty treatments, like lasers and acupuncture,

I felt like I had to try, under the promise of youth and beauty.

So many women undergo the pain of these beauty treatments

to maintain body ideals and notions of beauty standards.

Sometimes, it feels like having construction sites

on our faces and bodies.

Does it actually work?

I don't know.

On the lighter end of the spectrum,

Aunties' Nail Spa provides many beautiful options for our fingers,

including very useful tools for everyday life.

(Laughter)

Cute and practical.

(Laughter)

Meanwhile, on Auntlantis,

a parallel world inspired by Plato and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,

my aunties take a break on the beach,

after a day's work cleaning out the ocean floor,

in a world filled with plastic waste as we know it.

My Auntieverse is an ever-expanding narrative of food, culture,

family, relationships and the world we live in.

I could not have imagined having created this without the help of AI.

Before AI, I have never edited a video.

This technology lowered the barrier to learning

and allowed me to bring my imagination to life in only 12 months.

But this isn't just about AI.

The Auntieverse is about honoring the memory of extraordinary women

who nurtured one another and their families.

It is about celebrating personalities

and bringing into the spotlight the mundane and the bizarre,

like some aunties' big permed hair.

"The taller the hair, the closer to God," some said.

(Laughter)

[Auntie's Hair Spray]

(Music)

[smells nice]

(Music continues)

[holds shape]

[animal testing]

(Music continues)

[long lasting]

(Audience laughter)

[while stocks last!]

(Laughter continues)

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause continues)