Artist Highlight: photographer Jacques Burga brings blockchain to photography and fashion
“I know blockchain is still in its early stages, and I want to contribute my part to this technological movement and make changes that matter.”
We talked with Peruvian fashion photographer Jacques Burga to talk about his journey entering the blockchain and art space. After a friend introduced him to some blockchain activity within the photography space, Burga quickly realized the value in the technology and was keen to get involved himself. As blockchain platforms become more elegant and less clunky, more than just participants in the blockchain industry are embracing the technology. Codex is committed to serving as many artists as possible and making the platform as beneficial to them as we can, and Burga is a trendsetter in his industry; a creator from outside the digital or blockchain space who recognizes the value in the technology and moved swiftly to make it part of his practice.
Entrepreneur to Artist
This is not the first time Burga has blended two seemingly opposite industries in his career. After five years of studying Business in Peru, Burga went down the creative path and studied studied fashion, journalism, and photography at Conde Nast college in London. He gained a comprehensive understanding of the corporate world while working in consulting at Ernst and Young. He took those business skills and experience from EY and created a digital magazine in Peru, Lima Social Diary, that produced lifestyle, culture and arts of the country. With the success of Lima Social Diary, Burga expanded to create the french edition of the magazine, the Paris Social Diary. While photographing around the world for the magazine and working with French Vogue, it became clear to Burga that photography was his true passion, and the entrepreneur turned photography into his full time career.
While working in Lima, a friend of his introduced him to a blockchain project he was working on, and more recently introduced him to a photography platform that was exploring blockchain and bitcoin. Burga recognizes the technology is in early days and just beginning to impact the art world, and he’s excited to bring his influence to the movement.
Blockchain for photography and fashion
Burga sits in a unique position with experience and education in business, photography, fashion and the arts. He has the ability to recognize what issues exist in fashion and photography, and can see that blockchain technologies can offer a pivotal solution, saying:
“Privacy and protection for my photography is key to this technology. In fashion also… there are so many brands replicating each others work and that’s where I think blockchain technology will be a game changer for copyrights, as well as help identify the actual owners of the work. I think explaining the blockchain to artists and creatives in a simple way that they can relate to is key to growing the audience!”
It’s a new way to do transactions and certifications, which means new opportunities and new ideas, including new people that I would not have had the chance to meet if it wasn’t for this technology! It will change how I manage my photos and how these images will create a long lasting legacy through the blockchain. It is the future, and the meeting point between art, technology, photography and the digital world
Burga and Codex share a similar sentiment that in order for artists to gain the most out of the technology, it needs to be accessible. Burga is has created a digital studio on Codex, not only to create certificates and authenticate his own work, but to offer digital editions of his photographs. These are two key concepts that tradition or “physical” artists can leverage blockchain and Codex for. Not only does it give the artist the power to certify and secure their existing works, but it opens up a new digital market for their work. We asked him what features he found were most helpful on Codex, and Burga responded:
“The platform is easy to use and the Metamask login is fast and simple! One of the things i like about codex is very focused on artists, photography and fashion and its like having our own blockchain for our club of business people that are into art, fashion and photography! It is definitely a great point of reference for people in my industry that want to get in blockchain technology, and need a platform to use as a base and communicate with each other.”
What’s next for Burga and blockchain?
Burga knows that for his photography and fashion community, there needs to be more education and awareness of blockchain and how it can support artists’s practice. For this, he wants to continue to see Codex form more partnerships with artists and promote their works on instagram. Burga says he wants to see more “sales of digital art and auctions, which will help me develop me business in digital photography and blockchain”. If you’re interested in buying Burga’s digital photographs that you see on Codex, contact jacquesburga@icloud.com or search his Records on OpenSea.
To watch Burga’s career and journey progress, follow him on instagram @jacquesburga
Written by: Corinne Moshy
About Codex
Codex is the leading decentralized asset registry for the $2 trillion arts & collectibles (“A&C”) ecosystem, which includes art, fine wine, collectible cars, antiques, decorative arts, coins, watches, jewelry, and more. Powered by the CodexCoin native token, the Codex Protocol is open source, allowing third-party players in the A&C ecosystem to build applications and utilize the title system. Codex’s landmark application, Biddable, is a title-escrow system built on the Codex Protocol, which solves long-standing challenges in auctions: non-performing bidders, lack of privacy and bidder access. The Codex Protocol and CodexCoin will be adopted as the only cryptocurrency by The Codex Consortium, a group of major stakeholders in the A&C space who facilitate over $6 Billion in sales to millions of bidders across tens of thousands of auctions from 5,000 auction houses in over 50 countries.
To learn more about Codex initiatives, visit our white paper. To inquire about partnerships and developing dApps using the Codex Protocol, please contact us via Telegram or Twitter
