This piece was first published in Shawati’ issue 58

50/50 installation Image. Image courtesy of MORROW collective

In 2021, Collins Dictionary announced that NFT was word of the year, which was a rather curious situation for a word that isn’t even a word. NFT is an acronym that stands for non-fungible token. Collins defines it as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.” The rise of NFTs in popular discourse over the course of the past 12 months has been meteoric and frankly unprecedented especially given that the vast percentage of people had never heard of one before March 2021. This month two things happened to catapult them into the headlines. First was Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey selling the first ever tweet as an NFT for USD 2.9 million and the second was the sale of an artwork by a previously unknown artist called Beeple whose digital collage sold at Christie’s for USD 69 million. Of course, this was not the birth of NFTs. Actually, the first ever piece of art minted [this is the term for making an NFT] on a blockchain was in 2014 but March 2021 will go down in history as a watershed moment.

In the Gulf region, and particularly in the UAE, which prides itself on supporting digital innovation, blockchain and future thinking, many people were already moving into the NFT space. Amrita Sethi, a Dubai-based, Kenyan-born banker-turned-artist claims to be the first artist from the UAE to launch an NFT portfolio, which she did in 2020 on the Terra Virtua platform. And according to local media, Kristel Bechara, a Lebanese artist was the first Arab to launch an NFT collection in the region. There were many, many to follow. NFTs changed the way that art is made, bought, sold and collected. NFTs are digital certificates that authenticate ownership of digital assets such as videos, music, drawings, or even tweets, memes and articles, through blockchain technology. This is so important for giving sovereignty back to artists, who have suffered since the dot com era to maintain control over who sees, saves, copies and uses their work. It is also game-changing in terms of audiences, because artists no longer rely on networks of galleries, elite inner circles of art fairs or auction houses to reach collectors.

Claire Napper’ Ajmam. Image courtesy of Morrow collective.

Claire Napper’s The Capital Way. Image courtesy of Morrow Collective

NFTs in their essence had a democratising effect on the art world. However, the downside of this effect was that there was very little quality control for artworks. Galleries have a very specific purpose of working with talented artists and nurturing that creativity to bring out the best, and art fairs exist to bring those well thought out and considered pieces to market. When it is a free-for-all, then curation is lost. In March 2021, an initiative called MORROW collective was launched in Dubai with the idea of solving this problem. Led by three women: Claire Harris, Anna Seaman and Jen Stelco, the collective had a vision to bring curated fine art into the NFT space. They partnered with top tier galleries offering both technical and artistic advice on which pieces would work best as NFTs and also bringing crypto experience to the relationship. In May, the trio launched a large exhibition of 60 NFTs in a Metaverse [or virtual reality] gallery. Despite being post-Beeple buzz, this was pioneering in an industry that was still adapting. The trio continued with an exhibition of NFTs alongside their physical artwork counterparts in Firetti Contemporary gallery in Dubai and have been working alongside galleries and institutions since then to bring NFTs to a wider audience.

Genesis exhibition in MORROW collective metaverse gallery installation view. Image courtesy of Morrow collective

The biggest challenge in this market is to persuade traditional art collectors to make the switch into digital and NFT art. Not only are there hurdles in place to actually buy the pieces back in 2021, NFTs could only be bought using cryptocurrency, such as Ethereum although there are now platforms to buy in fiat currency. Also, to display an NFT you would need a screen as well as a digital wallet in which to store it. That’s are a lot of new pieces of vocabulary to bring into a sentence. Nevertheless, the pioneers were not to be deterred.

MORROW collective L-R Jen Stelco, Anna Seaman, Claire Harris in Zawyeh Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Image courtesy of Morrow collective.

The biggest challenge in this market is to persuade traditional art collectors to make the switch into digital and NFT art. Not only are there hurdles in place to actually buy the pieces back in 2021, NFTs could only be bought using cryptocurrency, such as Ethereum although there are now platforms to buy in fiat currency

Gigi - Desert Dreams. Image courtesy of Morrow collective

In April 2021, Gallery Bawa, a digital art gallery in Kuwait, launched the first NFT art gallery exhibition in the Gulf with a solo show by Saudi artist Ahaad Alamoudi and in the UAE, new platforms sprang up throughout the year. Jumy, a blockchain enabled NFT marketplace claimed to be the first NFT marketplace in MENA, teaming up with artists, celebrities and athletes to make collection of limited editions. There was also Cheeze. Inc, a photography focused NFT, media and entertainment company; NIFTY Souq, a digital marketplace where artists and collectors can create and buy NFTs; and NFT One a platform for Middle East based creators and collectors. These platforms vary in the blockchains that they use and in the audiences that they attract but are all very much firmly planted in the belief that NFTs are the art of the future. In Saudi Arabia, in November a new app, called Atrum, launched with an NFT by renowned artist Lulwah Al Humoud, whose Genesis [first] NFT sold for 4.25 Ethereum – a healthy sign that the appetite for buying art like this is strong, especially in a country with one of the youngest populations in the region.

Al Salam - Lulwah Al Humoud. Her Genesis NFT. Image courtesy of Morrow collective

As the new year arrived, institutions were quick to join the movement. Art Dubai announced in January that it was bringing a new digital section to the fair, featuring 20 of the global leaders in the industry and including Dubai-born MORROW collective. The collective also made UAE history in that month when they sold an NFT of the original design of a peace carpet gifted by His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces to Pope Francis in the Vatican in 2016. This concept – tokenising moments of history – is the logical next step for a country as young as the UAE as well as putting their support behind young talent, which Dubai Culture and Arts Authority did by hosting an exhibition of 50 NFTs curated by MORROW collective in early 2022. Museums are expected to be the next to enter the fray, with income potentially generated from making NFTs out of existing collections and with the transparency of blockchain offering the potential to digitise a ledger of history in perpetuity.

There is no doubt that NFTs are here to stay and we wait to see how far their impact will reach.

Enter the Digital Era, How NFTs are Impacting Art, Creativity and Beyond