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WHAT DID WE TRADE FOR TOMORROW?
I created a visual storytelling series that explores how technology and progress have transformed the simple, human experiences of everyday life.
The series moves from handwritten letters to instant messages, family gatherings to digital connections, outdoor childhood to screens, local markets to online shopping, and human teaching to AI-assisted learning.
For this project, I created a custom Recraft style inspired by traditional Japanese archival illustrations, using delicate hand-drawn linework, aged paper textures, expressive characters, and a warm historical visual language. I then combined this old-world style with modern technology to create a contrast between the past and present.
Rather than portraying technology as simply good or bad, the project asks a question:
WHAT DID WE TRADE FOR TOMORROW?
Progress gives us speed, convenience and new possibilities — but what happens to the human connections, traditions and simple moments we leave behind?
Old ways. New technology. Same human emotions.
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What if the Old Masters designed sportswear?
While taking part in the Recraft contest, I started thinking about how to mix classical painting with modern brands. I experimented with 18th–19th-century oil painting aesthetics and thought: why not take this idea further and create an entire sportswear brand around it?
Classic art, modern athletes, contemporary fashion. A little unexpected? Maybe. But that's what makes it fun! So, I created a sportswear brand concept that brings these two worlds together. The result is right below 👇
Recraft project: https://www.recraft.ai/project/ae17a521-566c-457e-9482-d4b94157111f
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Kalighat 2026: The Machines Are the New Babus
Kalighat paintings were cheap bazaar watercolours sold in 1880s Calcutta, and they were satire: they mocked the city's new rich, dandies who aped their British masters and lounged while servants fanned them.
I trained a Recraft V4 Style on five anonymous Kalighat sheets from the Cleveland Museum of Art and Wellcome Collection, keeping the bold single outline, flat colour and empty paper ground.
Then I turned the satire on 2026: the machines are the new babus. Phones smoke hookahs on velvet chairs, robot vacuums ride in palanquins, and humans fan, carry and groom their devices. Same masters, new hardware.
Social post: https://lnkd.in/p/gXJn_FQQ
Can you believe that the inspiration behind these images comes from 2,000-year-old stone carvings? 🤯
For my #RecraftStylesChallenge, I wanted to explore how an ancient art style could tell a completely new story — the story of our world today and the future we’re creating.
My main inspiration was Birth of the Buddha Shakyamuni, an ancient Gandhara stone relief from around the 2nd century CE, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. What fascinated me was how artists carved detailed scenes into stone to preserve stories for generations. This particular panel was originally part of a larger series around a Buddhist stupa, illustrating episodes from the Buddha’s life.
Looking at this artwork made me wonder: what if the same traditional carving style was used to represent our world today?
That thought became the starting point of my project. Using Recraft, I reimagined modern life and futuristic ideas as intricate stone reliefs — from digital workspaces and smartphones to futuristic transportation, robotics, and space exploration.
One detail that mattered to me was making the entire scene feel sculpted, rather than simply adding a stone texture to a digital illustration. I wanted the figures, architecture, and technology to feel connected to the same carved surface, with deep relief, weathered textures, and carefully integrated colors.
I chose this style because of the contrast it creates. Ancient stone has a sense of permanence and history, while technology represents constant change and innovation. Bringing them together gave me a way to explore what happens when an art form from the distant past meets ideas that belong to our present and future.
What makes this project meaningful to me is the thought that our everyday lives might one day become history too. The devices we use, the cities we build, and the technology we create could all tell future generations something about who we were.
What if someone discovered these carvings thousands of years from now and used them to understand our world?
That’s the perspective I wanted to explore through this project — reimagining the present through the art of the past.
Historical Reference: The Met — Birth of the Buddha Shakyamuni
Gandhara region, Kushan period, circa 2nd century CE.
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