FISHSKINLAB - ARTIC FISH SKIN AND AI

ARTIC FISH SKIN AND AI

The project was presented with Ana Cordoba Crespo during the British Library Fantastic Futures 2025 conference.

Arctic Indigenous communities such as the Nanai of Eastern Siberia have cultivated material cultures rooted in ecological and spiritual knowledge. Garments made from organic materials such as fish skin, gutskin and sinew sustainably sourced from their immediate environment are the basis of their cultural practices. These artefacts are not only utilitarian and sacred, but also express Indigenous values that place all beings - human, animal and plants - interconnected. These social foundations stand in sharp contrast to the anthropocentric paradigms underpinning Artificial Intelligence (AI), which seeks to simulate human cognition in machines, often marginalising other ways of knowing and being. As AI technologies increasingly penetrate cultural institutions, including those in the GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives and museums), there is a growing need to ensure that the deployment of these tools engages ethically with indigenous heritage.The migration of Arctic material culture, particularly garments such as fish skin robes, from their communities of origin to distant Western museums has been an intellectual, spiritual and artistic loss. Addressing these challenges requires not only technological innovation but also a shift in thegovernance of heritage materials, privileging Indigenous voices in all stages of digital engagement.

The integration of AI-enhanced 3D modelling offers a powerful tool to extend access to cultural heritage and facilitate virtual repatriation. This paper presents a case study examining a collaborative initiative between two researchers—one a fashion anthropologist affiliated with the NMNH, the other a fashion educator and CLO3D specialist teaching at University of the Arts, London—working in partnership with Nanai cultural practitioners. The project focuses on digitally reproducing a 19th-century Nanai fish skin robe housed at Penn Museum. Originally collected during an 1898 expedition to Siberia and acquired following the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the robe was later transferred to the Commercial Museum in Philadelphia and ultimately accessioned into the Penn Museum’s ethnographic collections. While these garments may appear to be mere artefacts, they are in fact spiritually charged belongings, created with ritual knowledge and designed to accompany women through major life transitions such as marriage and burials, serving as spiritual shields and cultural markers.

Using high-resolution photographs, parametric design tools, and AI-enhanced visualisation software, the research team reconstructed the fish skin robe digitally. AI-enhanced CLO3D enabled accurate pattern simulation and virtual garment construction, while Blender facilitated the replication of textures and material properties such as the sheen of fish skin. The resulting 3D replica served as a pedagogical and cultural resource, deployed in workshops involving Nanai Elders and local youth. These sessions not only enhanced community access to otherwise inaccessible heritage items but also revitalised intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge through open education. In doing so, the project contributed to the broader aims of digital repatriation—returning knowledge and experience, if not the physical artefact itself, to its community of origin.

This digital replica also functioned as a form of research into the intersections between Indigenous knowledge systems and AI technologies. Indigenous cosmologies offer a powerful lens through which to reimagine the goals of AI development. Where AI tends to privilege rationalist abstraction and individual agency, Indigenous knpwledge systems emphasise relationality, reciprocity, and collective memory. The case study highlights the potential for rethinking AI design not only to serve technical efficiency or institutional objectives but to uphold ethical commitments to inclusion, sovereignty, and cultural integrity. Nonetheless, the use of AI-enhanced 3D technologies in heritage contexts is not without complications. Existing platforms often fail to capture the subtleties of organic materials, and their spiritual ceremonial meaning. In addition, digitisation raises complex questions around intellectual property, access rights, and data sovereignty. For instance, while 3D models offer unprecedented accessibility, unrestricted archiving may violate cultural protocols, especially concerning sacred or sensitive items. The risk of cultural appropriation, misrepresentation, and further extraction remains high if such initiatives are not governed by community-led frameworks. As the project makes clear, effective digitisation must involve negotiated agreements on authorship and control, particularly in light of the colonial histories that shaped the very presence of these artefacts in Western collections. These challenges demand the development of ethical guidelines and legal mechanisms tailored to the cultural and spiritual aspects of Indigenous heritage. Policymakers and cultural institutions must take a proactive role in anticipating the implications of digitisation, crafting regulatory frameworks that balance technological innovation with social justice. This includes revisiting intellectual property norms, developing culturally responsive access controls, and ensuring that communities can define the terms of their digital presence. In this regard, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021) and the Indigenous AI Protocol (2020) provide essential starting points. Both frameworks emphasise the importance of inclusivity, data sovereignty, and the recognition of alternative knowledge systems in the development and application of AI technologies.

The research presented here argues for a radical reorientation of AI-driven cultural heritage practices—one that moves beyond mere visual replication to consider ethical dimensions. In particular, it highlights the importance of designing 3D and AI systems not from abstract technical parameters, but from within Indigenous worldviews that understand heritage as living, relational, and connected with specific communities. The future of responsible digital heritage lies in co-creation and co-stewardship, wherein Indigenous communities are not passive recipients of digital technologies but active designers and decision-makers. This approach ensures not only cultural fidelity but also builds institutional accountability and trust. By integrating digital technologies into collaborative education and preservation strategies, this project demonstrates how AI can be harnessed to support sustainable, inclusive, and community-led approaches to heritage. It offers a model for how academic researchers, museum professionals, and Indigenous knowledge holders can work together to co-produce digital tools that honour and perpetuate cultural memory. As globalisation and technological acceleration continue to threaten cultural continuity, such interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborations will be essential. The lessons drawn from Arctic fish skin traditions—rooted in adaptability, creativity, and ecological knowledge—offer not only a model for preserving the past but also a vision for designing more ethical futures in the age of AI.

https://bl.iro.bl.uk/concern/generic_works/8b9d0b88-b0e9-49fe-b3d6-6d8952c9eed2