The growing world of NFT crypto has been exciting, with many enthusiasts in the cryptocurrency space preaching the wealth in NFTs and the chance for creators and art collectors to expand their reach. NFT is a growing trend just like trading crypto on Redot. But during this growth, there seems to be a lack of diversity in the NFT crypto space. Women, and people of color, have been alienated from all the NFT craze. Memes, animals, and different animated characters have dominated NFTs. Therefore, it was high time someone changed the narrative, it was time for a change in what makes up the NFT crypto space. The space desperately needed the infusion of diversity. And what better person to infuse diversity into the NFT crypto space than two people who had, before now, removed from the cryptocurrency and NFT space: Yam Karkai and Raphael Malavielle.
WOMEN IN A WORLD OF CRYPTO
The need for diversity in the NFT space was always there, but people were either too scared to take the plunge or didn’t know where to start. Women had been clamouring for inclusivity in the cryptocurrency space, many of them becoming developers and analysts to prove a point.
However, the big break needed in the NFT came from a collection of digital arts that showcased women of different races, ages, body sizes and the likes. The collection, created by a couple, Yam Karkai and Raphael Malavielle, have broken the NFT space with the number of NFT enthusiasts praising the project, first for its creative genius, and second for its diversity.
The Women’s World collection was released on July 27, 2021, and no sooner had the collection been released than people such as Gary Vernachuk and Youtuber Logan Paul praised the brilliance of the work.
When the couple launched the collection, they were only seeking a way to give voice and identity to women. Yam Karki, in an interview with coindesk, said the motivation behind the collection was to create a collection for women instead of pandas and monkeys. “Women are beautiful, they are important and relevant.”
The launch of the collection opened the space for other artists who had been flirting with the idea of having digital arts of women. Karkai said she has received a lot of love from women of colour who had, before the launch of the collection, felt unseen, unheard in the digital art space, now feel like they mattered. Many of these women, according to Karkai, were Africans or women of African descent, who for the larger part of history, have been treated like second class citizens.
The inclusivity of the collection is part of the reasons this collection stands out.
In the World Of Women’s collection, there is no homogeneity of representation. Women from different races got a showing. Women see themselves in this collection, some of them saying some of the characters looked like their sisters, wives, friends; the characters reflected everyday people’s reality. They now feel seen, heard and important.
WHAT INSPIRED WORLD OF WOMEN?
Karkai says Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, with its diverse products for women of different skin colour race motivated her to do something as diverse and inclusive, but this time, instead of the makeup world, she brought diversity and inclusivity to the digital art space.
Karkai was also careful when creating the characters, which she said involved a lot of trial and error, not to make the mistake of cultural appropriation.
Cultural appropriation has been a major issue amongst people from minority groups. The complaints from people of other cultures whose cultures have been appropriated by ‘white overlords’ have grown so loud in recent years. Allowing people of different cultures to tell their own stories has been preached and hollered as these people are the ones who can truly talk about their cultures and lived and shared experiences, not people who haven’t lived these cultures.
This unique combination clearly shows an artist who is culturally and socially aware, ranging from the influence of pop culture in some of her characters to her middle eastern culture influencing how she drew the faces of some of her characters woman’s world is not just another collection launched to massage the ego of women and shut them up. Far from that. Women’s world is the barrier breaker that women in art and those in the NFT crypto space needed. Its unique collection adds a voice to people who have been silenced in the dirty arts space in the world.
CRYPTO INSIDER INFORMATION
In an interview with Karki and Malavielle, coindesk gathered from Malavielle that he closely watched the space of successful NFT projects, what they did and how they were able to reach lots of people and generate the right buzz and sales. Malavielle, who has a background in project management, said he was concerned with how to make WOW sell as much as the other popular NFT collections in the NFT crypto space.
His key eye for details allowed him to effectively facilitate the operations.
HOW MUCH IS THE WORLD OF WOMEN’S COLLECTION?
The price of one WOW character token is, at floor price, 1.5 ETH. And with 10,000 characters in the collection, the collection’s price is 15,000 Ethereum, which, going by the price of Ethereum, $3,5000, the collection is worth $35 million
WHAT MAKES WORLD OF WOMEN’S COLLECTIONS SPECIAL?
Getting praises from the likes of Gary Vernachuk, Paul Logan and Pransky surely means the collection is great. But what’s more is how people, in addition to seeing themselves in this collection, also see the faces of celebrities in some of the characters.
Celebrity NFTs have not garnered as much buzz as the NFT space is still nascent. But with the launch of the World of Women’s collection, there just might be a budding industry for celebrity NFTs as many NFT enthusiasts have identified celebrities such as Lady Gaga in the collection.
The reception from fans and NFT enthusiasts have been mainly positive. Karkai says she was scared at first when, during the creation process, she asked people what they thought of the idea and the characters. The responses were mixed. Some people loved the crazy idea while others didn’t think it was an idea worth following through on and preferred to stick to more traditional crypto on redot.com.
But the WOW classic resistance chart shows that the idea was indeed a great one. And it seems, given the rave review it is receiving, that World of Women is indeed the breakthrough women need in NFT.
Hopefully this opens the doors for more female-centred NFTs.