Online March 22, 7-9pm
The PRC is partnering with the Griffin Museum of Photography to bring you a conversation about the new frontier of NFT’s. You’ve gone from darkroom, to digital, to the world of NFTs. These non-fungible cryptographic tokens have taken the art world by storm is a remarkably short time. Spend an evening with Roula Seikaly, Curator at Quantum Art, and two QA photographers Amanda Lopez and Jamie Johnson, to dive into the what, how, and why of NFT’s and their impact on the careers of photographers.
Much like cryptocurrency, NFTs are recorded on a blockchain and can be used to prove the authenticity, ownership and provenance. “Non-fungible” implies the token is unique and cannot be duplicated or swapped for anything else, unlike bitcoins for example, which are fungible. Blockchain is a system in which a record of transactions is maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network. This shared, immutable ledger facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited.
Quantum Art is a platform dedicated to NFT photography, launched November 2021 by founder Justin Aversano who is best-known for being the man behind Twin Flames, the highest-selling NFT photo project of all time. Quantum works with a curated roster of world-renowned photographers, dropping weekly collections and exposing the NFT collector community to curated photography and art. Kris Graves and Roula Seikaly work to curate submissions showcasing artists with diverse backgrounds or work that shares the story of diversity. They are interested in artwork focusing on originality, purpose, execution, and cultural significance.
Jamie Johnson is a photographer specializing in fine art and documentary projects around children. She has traveled the world capturing images of children and childhood around the globe and has found a universality in the world of children. Her work has been exhibited Internationally in galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York and Paris.
Johnson has been published in dozens of magazines, and is in the permanent collection of several American museums. She won top 50 of Critical Mass in 2017 and 2019, and her first monograph “Growing Up Traveling” was released Sept 2020.
Amanda Lopez is a Mexican-American portrait and lifestyle photographer based in Los Angeles whose camera eye looks for a balance of strength, vulnerability, and tenacity. Her work has been published in TIME, The Washington Post, Wired, The New Republic, LA Weekly, Vice, The San Francisco Chronicle, Hamburger Eyes.
Her work has been selected as a Critical Mass Finalist, PDN’s Faces Portrait Photography competition winner, included in American Photography 36, AI-AP Latin American Fotografía 6, and chosen to be a part of the Save Arts Space Initiative in Brooklyn, NY. Select clients include Netflix, Instagram, PBS, Hauser and Wirth, Guitar Center, and Los Angeleno. She is a member of Diversify Photo, Girlgaze and The Luupe.
Quantum Art Curator Roula Seikaly is an independent curator and writer based in Berkeley, and Senior Editor at Humble Arts Foundation. Her curatorial practice addresses contemporary photography and new media, social justice efforts in contemporary art, exhibition making, and institutional critique.
Her writing is published virtually and in print on platforms including Hyperallergic, Photograph, BOMB Magazine, and KQED Arts. She has curated exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, SOMArts, SF Camerawork, Blue Sky Gallery, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and Photographic Center Northwest. She is the co-recipient of Blue Sky Gallery’s 2019 Curatorial Prize for the exhibition An Inward Gaze.