Art and Blockchain: No Tokens for Sale, I Promise!
By: Tamara Arzumanova Corinaldi
I first participated in conversations about crypto a little over a year ago when my dad, husband and I passionately argued about what it meant and if it’s wise to invest. Today, I write out the word “blockchain” every single day. No, I haven’t drunk the Koolaid to a level where I’m willing to dismiss obvious hurdles, but I do see so many new possibilities.
Before I joined Melrose PR, I’d devoted my life to creating art, specifically painting and design for Film and Theater. My goal was to add diversity of perspective to the stories that I was telling. As a Costume Designer, I felt a strong responsibility to illustrate and represent women and people of color through a multi-dimensional lens. Often, early sketches can help influence a script and casting. Diversifying the screen and stage became a personal, but silent endeavor. Increasingly, however, I found myself re-telling age-old stories from the perspective of middle-aged Caucasian men.
Because these were the people funding and exerting ultimate creative control, there was often little interest in questioning their own, sometimes limited, perspectives. It took me fifteen years to admit that much of the funded art in theater and film has been co-opted by the top 1 percent (here’s a Huffpost article that charts out what the demographics of the top 1% in the US looks like to provide a clear visual). So, after deciding to try new career avenues, I found myself in the exciting position to learn about the world of blockchain technology. Eventually, I began illustrating some of the content that we produce.
Why is drawing pictures relevant to blockchain at all? Well, images can serve as historical evidence of a culture’s archives. The culture of the blockchain industry is inherently disruptive; it is primed to re-define the role of old, ruling gatekeepers and to dismantle oppressive, top-down systems. As an artist who has worked to insert exactly this kind of thinking and spirit into old stories, I am exceptionally excited to discover that the new stories being told in the blockchain community are progressive and energized by a communal search for freedom and equality. These stories, in fact, are part of a larger cultural wave, which will inevitably bring visual art with it, encouraging not just provocative thought, but a nuanced idea of representation worldwide.
If we get to choose the type of images that appear in media, then more visual content can look like us. If we discuss how crypto can empower developing nations to prosper and overturn legacies of colonial residue, well then we will have to show citizens of those countries as empowered leaders of the world. Our actions drive the imagery and I am hopeful that the imagery to come is of inclusion and dignity.
