- Title: S. African company helps hang local art in virtual world
- Date: 2nd June 2022
- Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (Reuters) VARIOUS OF MUKHELI SCROLLING THROUGH THE TREE'S NFT WEBSITE ON MOBILE/LOOKING AT HIS ART
- Embargoed: 16th June 2022 11:02
- Keywords: African artists ethereum blockchain minting NFTs polygon blockchain
- Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- City: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Africa,Art,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA002225802062022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Artist Fhatuwani Mukheli daubs yellow paint on a series of canvases, bringing four striking portraits of a woman into relief at his studio in Johannesburg.
Paintings like these would have once been displayed in a home or gallery, but these days Mukheli, a South African artist, has made thousands of dollars by digitally "minting" them for patrons who can also hang them in their virtual world.
This is possible through a new platform called The Tree, a South African online marketplace that allows locals to promote and sell their art as digital assets without the vast energy typically used in blockchain transactions.
"There’s a virtual world right now, people are buying land in it and your art can be on those walls,†said Mukheli, referring to the metaverse, a three-dimensional digital reality that tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook believe is the future of the internet.
“I mean there’s advertising space in this virtual world – there’s everything we need in this current world, is also needed that side,†he added.
Mukheli's customers receive both the actual canvas and the digital receipt, known as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), while other artists on The Tree sell up to five limited edition NFTs for each piece, akin to digital prints.
"I think it's important as an artist and a creative to always play where the ball is going and not necessarily where it’s at," said Trevor Stuurman, one of the four other artists currently showcasing their work on The Tree.
Critics say blockchains, the digital ledger used to store information, are not climate-friendly because they guzzle computing power.
In May last year bitcoin "mining" devoured about the same amount of energy annually as the Netherlands did in 2019, data from the University of Cambridge and the International Energy Agency shows.
The Tree saves energy by running on Polygon, a more eco-friendly blockchain that uses a fraction of the power, and offsets each transaction by sending money to Greenpop, an environmental organisation that plants trees across Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The blockchain that we’ve chosen to go with of course doesn’t have as much of an impact at all, in fact it’s fractional compared to current blockchains such as Ethereum,†said Dan Portal, co-founder of The Tree.
The popularity of NFTs exploded in 2021, with one piece selling for a record $69.3 million, but their growth has signs of losing fizz.
Sales on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, had reached nearly $5 billion in January, a giant leap from the $8 million a year before, but declined to around $2.5 billion in March.
Portal isn't phased by the dip, which he links to the downturn of the global economy, rather than the bursting bubble of an asset which anyone can see online and download for free. Aficionados will continue to pay to be the authenticated owner, he said.
(Production Credits: Shafiek Tassiem, Sisipho Skweyiya) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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