Caribbean Creatives Find Power in NFTs – OZY

Whether in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago or beyond, young Caribbean artists are now taking inspiration from their colorful surroundings and then transferring their work to virtual spaces, where they sell it for cryptocurrency.

“Anyone, anywhere in the world can create a work of art on the blockchain, and anyone, anywhere else in the world can buy it,” says Nicholas Huggins, artist and founder of the Trinidad and Tobago-based design agency. Backyard Design Co.

Around the world, established and emerging artists have turned to virtual venues to publish and sell their creations, with some works selling in the millions. So far, Huggins has created 136 creations as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and sold all but two.

This technology is suitable for creative works because each NFT is unique and can be presented as a digital representation of a work of art. This artwork can then be “assembled” into a blockchain. (A blockchain is like a large database within which computers communicate with each other to authenticate transactions.) Those who buy such NFTs receive a digital token and a unique digital file associated with it—which can be an image file, or even an audio file if the art in question is music. In some cases, collectors also receive other benefits, such as a physical work of art.

At first, it can be difficult to understand why collectors would want to own digital art. If you can’t hang a painting in your house, what good is it? But such works become valuable for the same reason that any work of art, or any collector’s item, becomes valuable: because people want to buy it.

For this reason, NFTs allow artists to benefit from their network and community, he says Bonito Thompson, a Kingston-based artist who goes by the name Don Dada. As art becomes more and more valuable as more people compete to buy it, artists who engage their personal network in publishing, buying, and even trading their NFTs can create buzz. Additionally, because digital art is available to any collector regardless of location, artists can tap into a worldwide community of supporters.

Perhaps contrary to what many people think of when they imagine digital art, Thompson says, “What drives the NFT space is community, connection and connection with people.”

This community is growing.

SkyQuest Consulting Firm ratings that the global NFT market will be worth $122 billion by 2028. The Caribbean will have a piece of this pie, as some enterprising artists have already found a way to sell enough work to support themselves through cryptocurrency alone.

Zoe Osborne is a Toronto-based artist and interior designer from Barbados whose animated digital work is inspired by nostalgia for her native island. She sells her art for the Ethereum cryptocurrency and, so far, is able to support herself this way.

The lack of limited boundaries also appeals to him. Blockchain technology, she says, “allows you to have a global reach and you’re on par with everyone else in the world.”

Once artists conceive and create their work, they put it together on the blockchain, meaning they use a digital wallet to pay a fee to list their digital creations. Blockchain, which serves as a record of transactions and information, has created what people are calling for Web3, an internet that is relatively free from the control of giants like Amazon, Google and Apple. Users deal directly with each other, instead of a multinational interface. Furthermore, all transactions on the blockchain are observable by anyone at any time.

There are several different blockchains; Ethereum is the most used for NFTs. Huggins uses Ethereum. He sold his first lot almost a year ago for .22ETH, or about $900 at the time. “I did it more as an experiment, but then someone accidentally bought the piece.” Like his peers, Huggins’ work is bright, graphic and celebrates the vibrancy of the Caribbean, with images featuring roadside fruit vendors and clean lines of infrastructure.

However, even though Huggins and Osborne are enjoying particular success with blockchain technology, Caribbean artists face some obstacles that are unique to their location. The region is booming with potential, Osborne says, but the lack of ability to convert cryptocurrency into local currency through the local banking system is a problem.

“If this can be fixed, it would be a great opportunity,” she says, noting that there are artists who are excited about the potential but are “only partially embracing it” because it’s difficult to convert crypto in local money.

Andrea Dempster Chung, co-founder and CEO of Kingston Creativea non-profit arts organization that aims to enable Caribbean creatives to succeed, agreed that barriers remain.

“There is an overall tech knowledge gap, consisting of limited data/online access in the region and difficulty signing up for US-based banking/payment platforms,” she told OZY via email. For these reasons, she explained, only a handful of Caribbean artists have made the leap into the NFT space, and these artists must find a “workaround” to receive payments to their local bank accounts.

But perhaps local banking and governance systems will find a way to bridge this gap. Barbados, for one, seems ready to embrace the virtual world. Prime Minister Mia Mottley appeared at last year’s opening of an NFT exhibition by Caribbean culture and history group Mahogany Culture.

Jamaican artist Bonito Thompson creates images inspired by dancehall culture that incorporate augmented reality. In 2021, through the NFT live auction platform FOUNDATION, he hosted 10 artworks that sold in six weeks. Bonito has big aspirations, telling OZY he’s hard at work, seeking recognition as “one of the best artists of modern times.” For him, using NFTs was an easy transition. “I was looking for ways to make my work stand out. It was a natural flow and it started to explode. In terms of the NFT space in the Caribbean, I can see it growing as the banking system makes it easier to get people on board,” he says.

NFTs also represent opportunities for creators beyond the visual arts. Roshaun Clarke, a Jamaican dancehall musician who goes by the artist name Bay-C, told OZY via message that, in April 2021, he became First reggae artist to create a musical NFT. For Clarke, the benefits of using NFTs include not only the revenue stream, but also the elimination of a middle man between him and his audience. NFTs are also a stronger way to prove content ownership, he says.

Protecting intellectual property is a concern for these artists. Some NFT communities appear to be based in the Caribbean, but in reality they are not, says Dempster Chung of Kingston Creative. “It makes one raise questions about cultural appropriation,” she said. Given the challenges with the banking sector, “the delay in authentic Caribbean artists entering the space leaves a gap where non-Caribbean entities can capitalize on the culture,” she explained. She envisions a future in which even more Caribbean creatives are aware of cutting-edge technology in order to make the best decisions for their creative futures.

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