Alex Haagaard
2019. Printed digital images.
This work, which Haagard initially introduced on the social media platform Instagram, highlights the pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated alternative text (also known as “image descriptions”). While AI accessibility represents a potentially-generative approach to accessibility, it also takes the burden off of content creators to produce meaningful image descriptions, thus negating an analysis of the “access labor” (Hickman) involved in producing access. Shitty Alt Text thus invites conversations about the crip rituals of calling out inaccessibility and negotiating better relations between content creators and observers. Haagaard’s work here, initiated on social media platforms, foregrounds the ways in which hashtag activism is a #CripRitual.
The series includes automated alt text renditions of several highly recognizable works from European Art History.
#ShittyAltText: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Written Image Description:
An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred on a square the colour of an ocean surface churning under a sunny sky. The text reads, “May Be Art of Water.” This is the alt text autogenerated by Instagram in November 2021 for Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock print, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.”
#ShittyAltText: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Written Image Description:
An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred on a square the colour of heavy green fabric obscured by shadow. The text reads, “Image May Contain 1 or More Persons.” This is the alt text autogenerated by Instagram in October 2019 for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the “Mona Lisa.”
#ShittyAltText: Judith Beheading Holofernes

Written Image Description:
An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred on a square the colour of fresh blood. The text reads, “May Be Art of 2 People, People Sitting and Strawberry.” This is the alt text autogenerated by Instagram in November 2021 for Artemisia Gentileschi’s 1620-1621 version of the painting, “Judith Beheading Holofernes.”
#ShittyAltText: The Treachery of Images

Written Image Description:
An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred a square the colour of light reflecting dully off an ebonite pipe stem. The text reads, “Ceci η N’est Pas Une Pipe.” This is the alt text autogenerated by Instagram in November 2021 for René Magritte’s painting, “The Treachery of Images.”
#ShittyAltText: The Snail

Written Image Description:
An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred on a An Instagram post, viewed on a smartphone. White text in a system font centred on a square the colour of cartoon sunshine. The text reads, “May Be Art.” This is the alt text autogenerated by Instagram in November 2021 for Henri Matisse’s collage, “The Snail.”


Written Image Description:
Gallery view of the work Shitty Alt Text by Alex Haagaard installed in vitrines (hallway display enclosed in glass) along side the #CripRitual exhibition description at the Doris McCarthy Galleyr at UTSC. The five pieces are displayed as large posters, each centered in a vitrine window. // Photographs by Michelle Peek Photography*.
Alex Haagaard’s Instagram and Twitter: @alexhaagaard