Mattia Dagani Rio, Los Santos, 2023

Mattia Dagani Rio uses an AI generative image system to reinterpret the setting and narratives of GTA V. Set in the fictional city of Los Santos, the video game features narratives steeped in violence, bank robberies, and drug dealing, reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. It also incorporates stereotypical representations, including homophobic and transphobic dialogues and situations, often leading to criticism.

In a transformative reimagining, the artist adapts the game’s aesthetics and visual language to craft an alternative version that centers LGBTQ+ characters navigating experiences of love, heartbreak, sex, and personal growth in Los Santos. This re-envisioned narrative replaces objectified women and violent gangsters with tender and vulnerable queer characters and their romantic lives. The original protagonists — Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips — are recast as gay men whose lives are informed by love and affection, challenging traditional, normative notions of masculinity linked to wealth, brutal competition, and misogyny.

Dagani Rio’s Los Santos stands as a powerful illustration of how marginalized and discriminated groups can forge spaces of resistance and representation within the prevailing gaming culture and broader visual culture, which often perpetuates problematic stereotypes and narratives. Instead of merely engaging with the video game as conceived by its designers, the artist creatively “plays” with it, subverting its explicit and implicit ideologies.

More by Mattia Dagani Rio: mattiadaganirio.com