The Haiga Collection

Haiga are the combination of two art forms, poetry and visual images.

In short, the images should reflect the poem in some way or manner. Like many art forms, the concept of haiga originated in China in the 7th Century and was further developed in Japan. Don’t be surprised if you have never heard of it as it is a little known art form.

The poems I use are primarily in the form of haiku or senryu. Both of them are a minimalistic form of Japanese poetry that follows a fairly strict “5-7-5” syllable count. Traditional haiku are grounded in tangible things such as the change of seasons, nature, and concrete images. Senryu, on the other hand, are focuses on humanity and its musings and foibles.

For the visual images, I utilize an artificial intelligence (AI) application called Midjourney. Technology has changed many things, and art is definitely one of them. The AI algorithms utilized today are becoming increasingly creative and challenging the accepted art world. Rather than reject them, in this project I have decided to embrace them and see that images the artificial intelligence comes up with when fed a diet of poetry.

Each of the haiga in this collection have been created utilizing the following process:

(1) A haiku or senryu is written

(2) The poem is used as a “prompt” in MidJourney, my generative AI image making program of choice

(3) Along with the prompt, various stylistic (e.g. impressionism) and tech related parameters (e.g. seed variance) maybe selected

(4) The resulting images are curated and, if necessary, returned for additional variance modification

The end result has to move me, the ultimate creator. Those that do, wind up here in this Flickr for your viewing.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings as you explore them.

Winston