Shanique Stewart urges use of Artificial Intelligence as she and her team unveil first AI generated Mural at ET Joshua Centre

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated mural, and the art community is being encouraged to employ AI technology to make certain aspects of the art-making process easier.

This has come from the lead artist on the project, Shanique Stewart, who spoke to SEARCHLIGHT on the eve of the mural’s official unveiling over the weekend.

Stewart explained that she used a written prompt to conceptualize the mural image, adding that specificity is crucial for the technology to produce what is desired.

“You have to be very specific in terms of what you need. If you want a pink rose, you have to be very specific with everything, if you want kinky hair… or the AI will just give you what it thinks you want.”

She admitted that the AI technology came in handy to fill the gap in her designing skills, also adding that artists should not shun this form of technology as it can be viewed as a helpful tool.

“I’m still new to it [AI] so I didn’t get exactly what I wanted. But I didn’t want to just give up on it so I had to incorporate my own thing in it. I think instead of making AI the enemy, being a little concerned about how humans are going to live amongst this technology, we can actually work along with it. It really isn’t that bad, it makes life easier for me.”

Stewart said while she believes in hard work, she is all for simplifying processes to the benefit of the creator.

The mural, which started back in 2024, was completed on Sunday, February 9, 2025 with Stewart revealing that the project was on ice for some time due to financial challenges.

The mural is number 14 of the 15-mural project headed by the Call Out Nation team, and involved students of the Thomas Saunders Secondary School, St Vincent Girls’ High School, and the SVG Community College.

Stewart said the murals are a way to keep art in the face of Vincentians, and she called on the public to throw their support behind young artists.

“More and more young people start pushing to do more…the more it is in your face people are just going to have to get in line with it. If artists stop working today, they will just be forgotten.”

The mural features an Afro-Caribbean woman with roses around her face. Stewart explained that the woman is used to represent the nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines with different types of roses as a representation of the various types of people in the country. The sunset symbolizes “closing a new chapter and starting a new one” in the lives of Vincentians. The parrots included in the mural, which Stewart describes as spiritually gifted animals, are used to express freedom of speech.

The mural was done with in collaboration with the Department of Culture, and sponsored by a number of individuals and businesses including Jenny Labbon, Tom Newton, Leroy Edwards, Ace Hardware, ECBI, Tus-T Water, St Vincent Brewery, National Properties, Facey Trading, ACE Hardware, and Colaz Smith TV out of Jamaica.