Passionfruit/Voice
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NFTs from creators we love
Passionfruit is your creator economy newsroom – here to help creators like you navigate the business of independent creativity. In that spirit, we’ve partnered with Voice, an NFT platform for creators that enables creatives across mediums to mint and sell their work in a simple, protected way.
It’s a platform that removes the technical barriers keeping creatives from monetizing their work. On Voice, you don’t need to have a PhD in crypto to participate. Below you’ll find a collection of specially-curated NFTs from creators we love, all available for purchase. Half of the proceeds from your purchase will go directly to the creators, and the other half will be reinvested to purchase NFTs from and support other creators doing brilliant work on the platform.
**If the concept behind NFTs is still a bit unclear to you, get the FAQs here.
Leaving the security of the Air Force for the freedom of digital art
Darel Carey left behind the comfort and structure of an Air Force career to find his way in the world of optical art.
Check out Darel’s NFTs on Voice
Diatom
Career stability can be a difficult thing to walk away from. When passion calls, we often look to others to help decide whether or not to follow it. For Darel Carey, his wife was the tipping point for leaving his career behind.
“I received a lot of pushback,” Carey explained. “Every person… was trying to convince me not to do it, except my wife. I was already halfway through a military career and could retire in 10 years, so why would I throw it away for a dream?”
Carey traded the logistics and structure of the Air Force for his true calling, abstract digital art. He found his true love in art school when his instructors noticed his MC Escher inspired work and opened more doors. “My professors in art school told me some of the work I did resembled Bridget Riley. Looking into Riley’s work… I learned there was a name for what I was doing. It was Optical Art.”
Originally struggling and selling his work on t-shirts, Carey focused on constantly creating and expanding his idea of what art is. Thankfully social media provided a new and exciting medium.
“I was making time-lapse videos of my tape installations and sharing them on YouTube and Instagram,” says Carey. “Eventually a couple of them caught a wave and went viral” As his social media presence expanded, so did the scope of his work beyond prints and digital images.
Installation at Otis College of Art and Design; Darel’s Alma mater
At first, it was art installations, where Carey could see viewers walking across, jumping around, and engaging with his art. “I also hope that my art makes people think and gives them a sense of wonder,” he explained. “How do we perceive the world? What do our brains tell us that our eyes are seeing? Can our minds be tricked about what we’re looking at?”
Now his art is taking the next leap, outside of gallery installations and social media conversation and into the world of NFTs. “NFTs have helped digital artists by giving them a legit way to sell their art. Digital art has been viewed as not rare or valuable because a digital file can be copied infinitely.”
By minting art on the blockchain Carey is able to give customers the authenticity of ownership. But beyond allowing him to expand his own business, NFTs represent something more.
“NFTs are just part of our digital future. As we have more of a presence online, in the clouds, and in the metaverse, we will do more things in the digital realm,” Carey enthusiastically explains.
According to the artist, “NFTs are a natural progression of authentication, and that applies to more than just art.” By getting in on the ground floor, Carey, and the fans of his art, are ensuring their place in the digital future known as the Metaverse.
It’s fitting given the mind-bending forms Darel Carey’s pieces take that he’s found a home in NFTs. Like his work, NFTs take more than just a glance to understand, but those who look deeper will find the reward.
You can discover the psychedelic, evolving world of Darel Carey’s art on the NFT platform, Voice. Click here to purchase his work for your future in the Metaverse.
Click to meet our other NFT artists:
Michael Tennant, the creator of the Actually Curious card game, is on a mission to inspire curiosity, inclusivity, and empathy in a divided world.
Is empathy contagious? It has to be, according to Michael Tennant, the founder of the socially conscious marketing agency Curiosity Lab. Its transmissible nature is what makes empathy crucial to bridging the gap between people seemingly born into division.
“My expert opinion is that if I can show people the benefits of empathy on themselves and their loved ones, it will eventually ripple out further,” said Tennant.
In 2018, Curiosity Lab began an initiative to create a conversation starter for a community-building campaign. It was then that Tennant discovered that by adding game mechanics, people would lower their defenses and egos, which would lead them to listen more intently, speak more openly, and share more freely.
And thus, Actually Curious was born.
The conversation card game teaches the tools of active listening and empathy through meaningful questions based on science and the psychology of emotional connection. With the success of Actually Curious, Curiosity Lab turned the movement to spread empathy into a national brand.
But a movement is never still. As part of its efforts to spread empathy, Curiosity Lab is preparing to launch its latest initiative, Curiosity Lab NFT Studio. The program seeks to enter the blockchain world with purpose-driven NFTs created by BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ creatives.“If I can show people the benefits of empathy on themselves and their loved ones, it will eventually ripple out further.”
“Our plan is to create an NFT Studio where we work with creators and thought-leaders to develop NFTs that raise excitement and agency towards our shared missions, while raising the NFTs’ value as we succeed at our purpose goals,” Tennant explains. “It’s beautiful art with a utility proposition that allows the NFT to appreciate and earn for the creators.”
The NFT Studio also strives to offer creators access to resources and guidance through the lesser-known business side of NFTs, including the tax implications that come with NFTs.
The program breaks ground on the Voice NFT platform with four NFTs by the first Studio Fellow Rebecca Ustrell, the founder of Curious Publishing, the art non-profit based in the Inland Empire of Los Angeles.
While three of the NFTs are available as a part of the Passionfruit collection, one will be exclusive to the Actually Curious collection: the first ever Actually Curious Access Card—and with its exclusivity, comes many bonus benefits.“It’s beautiful art with a utility proposition that allows the NFTs to appreciate and earn for the creators.”
The Actually Curious Access Card NFT includes an entry into a drawing to win $2000, the original Actually Curious card game, and access to all Curiosity Lab workshops and events, including the upcoming A Year of Empathy workshop on Saturday, January 15, 2022. You can also receive one of the Actually Curious special edition cards with the purchase of the three NFTs in the Passionfruit collection, including the Human Rights Edition, Culture Edition, and the Happy Hour Edition.
Are you curious? Join the movement to spread empathy and buy a purpose-driven NFT to crowdfund the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+-led Curiosity Lab NFT Studio.
Once a New York City FC defender, Ethan White is now pursuing another dream from behind his camera lens.
When Ethan White retired early from Major League Soccer in 2017, it was a move some didn’t understand.
“I didn’t quit soccer, I started living” White posted to Twitter in May 2018. Unknown to them was that he already had his next move planned – photography.
As a professional soccer player, Ethan White experienced once-in-a-lifetime moments in front of a camera. Now he was ready to capture them from behind the lens of one as a professional photographer.
Check out Ethan’s NFTs on Voice
Like father, like son…like son, like son
Hackney Mornings
Salah 2′ – UEFA Champions League Final 2019
His love for photography wasn’t a new flame, having discovered his passion while in high school.
“My friends and I, who were also soccer players, got into photography during my Sophomore year of high school,” Ethan said. “During the time, we were very into collecting sneakers. In order to flip our sneakers, we bought cameras to set ourselves apart from the rest of the sellers on eBay. Naturally, that turned into just documenting our lives.”
Over the years, as he became a success as a professional soccer player with the New York City Football Club, Ethan honed his skills as a photographer. What started as a creative outlet and a productive way to spend his hours while off the field had become a creative passion he eventually decided to pursue full-time.
Today, he travels the world, driven by his desire to capture an emotional story through photography.
“Everyone is telling their story of these current times in their own way,” said Ethan. For him, it’s his dream to tell his through the lens of his camera.
Ethan features some of these emotion-filled moments from his lifestyle photography work on the NFT platform, Voice. Click here to purchase his work.
Inspired by intersectionality, Meg designs art to inspire a world where people are free to live their most authentic lives.
Artist and activist Meg, known as @megemikoart on Instagram, started their creative journey while at the mall. “I used to walk through the mall, searching for clothes that felt like me, and I never once walked into a clothing store and felt seen or represented,” Miko explained. “Whether it was in the types of apparel, designs on the clothes, or even the mannequins.”
As much as it was about expression, creating was also about feeling whole in the world. For Meg, wearing their own designs was life-changing. “Creating and wearing the apparel I’ve designed has made me feel so much gender euphoria because the designs and types of clothing feel like they represent me and the part of my identity that I had suppressed for so long,” they explained. Now Meg aims to spread the freeing feelings of inclusion, representation, and love to QTBIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people through their art.
Check out Meg’s NFTs on Voice
Support Human Rights
Earth Pride Flag v2
Trans Happiness Ahead
We spoke with Meg about art, inspiration, and their work to create a safe space for every human to live life as their most authentic selves.
Passionfruit: How does your life experience as a trans Asian American influence your art?
Meg: I really want to be the representation and person I needed when I was younger. Combining my passions and sharing my experiences as an Asian American trans non-binary artist and activist is how I hope to create a safe space for those who have unsupportive families, or feel alone as they explore their gender and sexuality. My art has been greatly influenced by the intersectionality of my identity, as I’ve finally allowed myself to freely express myself in a creative way that feels most like me.
P: A lot of your art is focused on empowering and uplifting the youth of QTBIPOC and LGBTIA+. Who inspires you? What do you hope your fans will take from your work?
M: My grandma was one of my best friends, and she always inspired me to follow my dreams of pursuing art and a career that I was passionate about. After she got out of the Japanese American Internment Camps of WWII, she had to give up her dreams of pursuing art and music to work and help support her family. Her entire journey has always inspired me to follow my dreams and passions.
I hope that folks in my community and QTBIPOC and LGBTQIA+ youth feel inspired by my journey of becoming the best version of myself. I want folks to hear my story and feel comforted and safe to be their true selves in a world that tries so hard to force us all into very specific cookie-cutter shapes.
P: What is the most important thing you’ve learned that might be of use to other upcoming artists & creators?
M: One of the most important things I’ve learned during my journey of pursuing art full-time is that we humans are all so different. We all have our own feelings, emotions, and experiences that make us who we are today and influence the kind of person we’d like to grow up to be.
You just never know when a little bit of your story or experience may overlap or resonate with someone else’s and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so special to be an artist and creator. This journey connects you to so many people and so many different communities. After I learned this, I felt so much more courage to freely express myself – just on the off chance that I may make at least one person feel a little less alone in this world.
P: Tell us something about one of the images you’ve selected for an NFT. What’s the story behind it?
M: My “Trans Happiness Ahead” design is one of my all-time favorites because it represents how far I’ve come and all the hope I have for my future. I spent so much of my life feeling very sad and ashamed for being me. After coming out and allowing myself to explore my gender, I’ve been able to feel all of that trans happiness, and I’ve never smiled more in my life. I hope that folks see this design and feel hopeful for their future as well.
