Model and digital artist Aihui Cui overlaps her practices as she draws parallels between the two. Originally from Shanghai, Aihui now works in London, New York and also virtually. Aichi 2.0 is in a sense an extension of herself, Aihui created the digital avatar in 2019 with her own Instagram account in order to play around with creative softwares in a more personal approach. Aihui’s modelling career is currently mainly based in London but she is signed to two agencies; one in London and one in New York. For Aihui, modelling has given her a platform to extend from with her digital work. Read on to hear more from Aichi’s chat with Coeval.

You work as a model and digital artist - why did you choose to practice within these industries?

To be honest, I never really chose to move into these industries, I just sort of naturally gravitated towards them. In many ways I’m very grateful for the opportunities I have had, but it was just a sequence of naturally progressing events that led me to where I am. With modelling this was certainly the case, with the digital art, this is something I just fell in love with and pursued as a passion that eventually led to opportunities. I’ve always been in the, for lack of a better word, ‘creative’, industry. Academically, socially and personally it has always been what I found myself engulfed in, but it is only in the last few years that I have really cemented myself in specific areas of it.

How does your work as a model and as a digital artist overlap?

There is a huge amount of overlap for both these areas in my life. I owe a lot to my modelling career, as it gave me the profile to help gain exposure to my digital art in the early stages, and now vice versa, my digital art helps me gain traction for my modelling work. The two are quite hard to separate in many ways, as the digital work I do has a lot of overlap with modelling, it just allows me to express my creative output and have a say in final looks. A lot of my digital art I use my own face for, so the two can draw large parallels, and the lines between them become blurred.

Can you tell us about Aihui 2.0?

I started work on her way back in 2019, originally just playing around with creative software and expressing different visions I had for myself. It just grew from that really. She is a pure reflection of myself, a small piece of me cloned into a digital world. In a lot of ways, she is just a blank canvas, she doesn’t have a ‘persona’, she isn’t trying to be something, she just exists. This has always been my intention for Aihui 2.0. I don’t want her to be engaging with the audience, or for her to have a personality type, or a sense of humour, or to jump on popular culture trends. I just want her to exist in this digital realm. It is quite reflective of the industry, and that’s how I want her to be. Just like in the real world industry, models are the modes of delivery for someone else’s creative vision, they are the blank canvas on which a designer showcases their hard work and vision. I have been, and still am, very much in that industry. For me, this was just about brining myself into a virtual sphere as well as a physical sphere. If it sparks a conversation about rights, image usage and other elements when it comes to a digital model, I think that would be great.

What inspires your digital work?

The flexibility, freedom of control and expression are huge inspirations for me within my digital art. I started this back in 2019, pre-pandemic, and if anything it is more relevant now than ever. Without going full on sci-fi dystopian nightmare, this has actually worked out very well for me, and was always my driving inspiration, I just never thought it would be this relevant so soon. I have a fascination with AI and future technologies, and I see this as the future of the industry, which is what originally inspired me. During this horrible year, the future has been thrust upon us even more. Restrictions on travel, gatherings of large groups and a terrible economy are never good for creative industries in the short term, but without using physical models, digital models in the industry have become more common practice. Whether this trend continues, we will have to see, but for now at least, I am really inspired by what I do and knowing I can still do my job in a virtual sphere.

You are signed to both London and New York based modelling agencies - how do the two differ in terms of the type work you get from them?

I have undoubtedly had more work in London over recent times than with New York. Both agencies are brilliant, such lovely people, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. As a Chinese national though, it is not the easiest process getting a working visa for the United States in the current climate of things. With the pandemic, I haven’t travelled for work this year. In February, Shanghai was locked down and I remember my UK visa arriving a week before the casting calls in London were due to begin. At this point, London did not even have any cases, but there was no way I could leave Shanghai, this was really disappointing. It seems like this year I won’t be attending any of the major fashion weeks, but I have my digital work to focus on for now, so that is my major focus of energy. Hopefully next year will be better, I would love to get back to these places.

What has been your favourite shoot/fashion show to work on as a model?

Not too long ago I did a commercial shoot for Thom Browne. It was their perfume range, and it was just such a great shoot to be on. I absolutely loved how it came out. I can’t really pick a favourite though, I have worked with so many great brands and people; MUA’s, photographers, stylists etc. I could talk about them for hours. They have all have been amazing in their own unique ways. I think this is what I love about the industry so much, nobody is in this industry reluctantly, everybody here has worked hard and chosen to be here. Everyone is super passionate about what they do, and this shines through on any team I have ever worked with.

Looking towards the future - what have you got planned for yourself and Aihui 2.0?

To be honest, its just nice being able to get modelling work without having to leave the house! On a personal level, I am looking to maybe relocate in the near future, and will hopefully be back doing real life events in 2021 internationally. For Aihui 2,0, I want her to have more work and exposure too, I think the digital creative sphere has shown it can work as a viable option now, it is end of the world proof, even after we are all gone, Aihui 2.0 will be sitting in a virtual cloud somewhere for eternity.