The Leonardo Imagination Fund: Meet the Creators

Explore the projects pushing the boundaries of creativity

Around the world, artists of all disciplines are using AI to explore the outer edges of their creativity. Their boundary-pushing projects show us how emerging technologies can be a tool to go deeper into our imagination.
Earlier this year, we launched the Leonardo Imagination Fund to empower artists to delve fully into their creative vision. After reviewing over 500 submissions across art, design, film, and interactive experiences, five projects were selected to receive $10,000 USD each, as part of a total $50,000 grant.

Meet the 5 funded artists

Image data courtesy of the Australiasian Virtual Herbarium, used under CC BY 4.0.
The Herbarium is not affiliated with, nor does it endorse, this work or its interpretations.

Multidisciplinary Artist

Mia Forrest

Australia

With work presented by Sotheby’s and Art Basel, Mia Forrest is a multidisciplinary artist fascinated by how technological systems mimic systems in nature. For her Imagination Fund project, Orchids, she’ll train a machine learning model with data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium to digitally cultivate orchids. These flowers will then be printed onto brass plates and finally turned into textured embossings. By bringing these orchids into the physical world, Mia sees this project as an invitation for viewers to rethink the supposed divide between nature and technology.

Filmmaker

Mateo Mejia

USA

Born in Bogotá and raised in Houston, Mateo Mejia is a filmmaker who mixes traditional techniques with generative AI tools. Signed to global creative studio, Entropico, Mateo is part of a new wave of filmmakers redefining how stories are told. His next film,The Waiting Room, will follow the surreal story of two brothers who build a gigantic catapult to escape a totalitarian regime. He plans to shoot the film using practical effects: built sets, DIY props, and in-camera SFX. He’ll then take those elements and manipulate them using AI models in Leonardo. For Meteo, his goal is to create something that feels tactile, imperfect and alive while still exploring how technology can expand visual storytelling.

Digital Artist

Joyce Ng

Singapore

A digital artist with Fellowship.xyz, Joyce Ng aka Alsoguppyme is known for transforming the ordinary into the surreal. Born in Malaysia and based in Singapore, she spent her early years commuting daily between two countries — a rhythm that continues to shape her fascination with movement and routine. For her Imagination Fund project, Human Error Rate, she explores the modern commuter through the eyes of an algorithm. Using Leonardo’s image and video tools alongside TouchDesigner’s geometry tracking, she’ll create a system that compares real commuter footage with an AI-generated version of the same journey. Shown side by side, the two mirrored journeys reveal the strange ways technology attempts to imitate life.

Digital Content Creator

Lucas Clément

France

Lucas Clément is a French digital artist known for creating Anotherworld — a dreamcore social media world exploring the uncertain edge between waking life and the dream state. For his Imagination Fund project, he’ll expand Anotherworld into a five-minute cinematic short film. Alongside the film, he’ll create a separate 360° VR experience built from the core images where viewers can pause, look around, and inhabit the spaces the film evokes. Using Leonardo’s generative AI toolkit, he wants to transform his online project into an immersive experience.

Experimental Media Artist

Ivona Tau

Lithuania

Ivona Tau, PhD, is a new media artist from Vilnius whose work explores memory, nature, and synthetic perception. After her grandfather’s passing, she discovered dozens of rolls of family film from 1960s–80s Soviet-occupied Lithuania. Drawing from this intimate archive, her Imagination Fund project, I Wish I Had Told You About the Fieldfares This October, will use AI tools to reconstruct her grandparents’ world and create an avatar of herself to engage them in conversation. The resulting videos will merge restored footage, synthetic voices, and AI-generated imagery — asking what it means to remember and belong in a world where even memory can be simulated.

Meet the highly commended artists

Artist and Filmmaker

Freddy Chávez

Canada / Mexico

Filmmaker

Nico Casavecchia

USA

Artist / Filmmaker

Kezia Barnett / KEZIAI

New Zealand

Musician / Filmmaker

Tedra Wilson

USA

Video Game Developer

Majed Al Saied

Canada

Reflections from our judges

From over 500 submissions, our judges narrowed it down to 20 standout creators. After thoughtful review and spirited discussion, they aligned on the top 5 artists — and a group of highly commended visionaries whose work also pushed the boundaries of imagination.
Each a creative force in their own right, our panel of judges included Alex Proyas, Mike Dobell, Alex Naghavi, Dwayne Koh and Shelby Ward, and are excited to champion the Imagination Fund artists bringing their visions to life through AI.

What’s next for the artists

Each artist will now embark on a six-week creative journey, with Leonardo providing the tools, resources, and financial support to bring their ideas to life ahead of a final showcase in early 2026. Until then, you can follow them on social media to witness their creative process unfold. We’re excited to see how their visions take shape.