Hassan Ragab

Searching for Sayed in Latent Space One of the fundamental forces in creation is bias—not just personal bias or the influence of our surroundings, but also the bias embedded in the tools we use to create. Over the past two years, I have been exploring this bias—testing, learning, and ultimately embracing it to the point where I now use it actively in my work. "The City" series explores the visual documentation of our built environment and how it can be transformed through "hallucinations." This pursuit aims to develop a novel visual vocabulary—one that moves away from materialism and embraces inclusivity. "Searching for Sayed in Latent Space" continues my series The City is a Tram, reflecting on Alexandria, my life there, and my relationship with the tram and the sea. The depiction of the tram in this work may not appear conventionally "Alexandrian" because I choose to engage with bias rather than resist it, allowing it to shape the outcome rather than striving to control it. The piece is set to Ana Haweet by Sayed Darwish.   Techniques used: MidJourney for image generation, Khoya GUI for custom LoRA training, ComfyUI, AnimateDiff, Topaz Video, Adobe Premiere, Soundly.