Alina Gross: AI-Generated Fashion Photography and the Blurring of Reality

Alina Gross, a Ukrainian-born artist and photographer based in Bochum, Germany, is at the forefront of integrating generative AI into fashion photography. Gross began her career as a model before studying communication design at the University of Wuppertal, graduating in 2006 with a diploma in photography design. She has exhibited at KunstKlub K21 and Kunstsammlung NRW, and her vibrant, suggestive style captures female bodies and natural elements with bold colors. Gross collaborated with Schiaparelli for the fall 2023 ready-to-wear collection and served as first image photographer and art director for Vogue Portugal's March 2024 "The Blossom Issue." At PhotoVogue 2023, she participated in the exhibition "What Makes Us Human? Image in the Age of AI," using Midjourney to create images she considers a co-creation between photography and AI. The article also discusses Nick Knight's SHOWstudio and his short film "Reality Inverse" for Maison Margiela at Serpentine Gallery in 2019, as well as Cosmopolitan India's 27th anniversary issue featuring seven AI artists. The broader context includes debates on AI authorship, highlighted by Jason M. Allen's 2022 Colorado State Fair win with a Midjourney-generated work, which the U.S. Copyright Office ruled ineligible for copyright protection.