R.J.R. Annika Lui

"Tools of Abuse. Minds for Resistance"

I’ve been making some progress

To detangle bitterness, anger, and hate

So, I’ve come to some conclusions

Made some recognition

I don’t hate Generative AI

Let me compute, elaborate, and put it straight

What I do hate is the laziness

Because that’s what this is, isn’t it?

Manifested with each prompt, burned tree, or steal

This attitude of disingenuous gratitude

To stab another human in the back

To light the world on fire

Just for one Ghibli-fied photo

Not art, not even entertainment, just a lazy attempt at misinformation

Misinformed to the point that you believe it’s a solution

But it’s just an accelerated tool that solves non-existent problems

Because there isn’t a problem with illustration, animation, or writing

It’s just the soft knife routine of labour abuse, transit misuse, and the hot breath of the rich that breathes down your neck at midnight.

So, yes. I hate laziness amplified. I hate that the Truth is minimized.

Because laziness means we stop thinking. Stop believing.

Stop deciding

Start rolling on our bellies

Eating slop and brain rot

Waiting for the next tyrant or king to caress our cheek

Only to spit in our face

I want us to think, I want us to feel, to dream

But you can’t do that without the work

Work isn’t the problem

It’s time we take away

It’s time we demoralize

We’d rather have steel bodies fully automated

Rather than free thinkers who breathe, know the earth, and care

It’s not all about work, though

You need to read

You need to feel

Cause I love caring

I love it so

It’s an active, not a passive decision

To participate, engage, to know

Just know that it is a human you are talking to

Because art is the process of communication of meaning

We design and create ways of understanding and knowing

It takes work, it will always take a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it

Because that’s what you do when you want to build

When you want to rebuild

Introducing my Thesis: "We Want to Remember" debuting in person at GradEx 2025 and online on rjrannikalui.com on May 7-11th.

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What is "We Want to Remember"? A collection of artworks critiquing systems, spaces and identity under the Global Caste System. The artworks imagine a way to break away from these hierarchies focused on economics and land by seeking diverse collective empowerment.

All artworks include original illustrations and experimental poems inspired by numerous professors at OCAD U, life experience, and the many books I hope to source on the webpage for this art collection. A quick shoutout to @isabelwilkerson for her fantastic book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.

Where will "We Want to Remember" be shown? The collection of artworks will be shown in person at OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., on the 6th floor, with OCAD Illustration. The section is still TBD. Entry is free!

For accessibility, it'll be available for online viewing on rjrannikalui.com. An audio description will be available.

💜A prelude to Thesis... (Full essay available in Bio)

--- https://www.rjrannikalui.com/post/the-loss-of-diverse-collective-empowerment Before I share my thesis, I want to introduce my academic side to all of you. Over the past couple of years, I've been studying a combination of things: Illustration, Creative Writing, and Identity. Much of this culminated in this essay to grapple with my tensions with representation in media. After seeing the rise of PoC content since I was a teen and the hateful content that has arisen since then. Much of this tension was trying to grasp if this was all truly racism. It felt like an insufficient definition.

Thanks to many of my professors and @isabelwilkersonson book "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent." I wrote this essay and consequently created an entire Thesis around it called "We Want to Remember."