Are NFTs art? We ask award-winning graphic designer Varvara Alay

NFTs on a decentralised blockchain have the potential to open any artist’s audience globally. When every person has a chance to participate and connect with their ideal collector, diversity and equity across the space are natural byproducts.

In the NFT space, there is a strong community of diverse women who are building communities around art that reflects and supports these values – women-led projects, like World of Women, Meta Angels, Boss Beauties, Honey Badges, Women Rise, and many many others, are at the forefront of giving-back in direct and meaningful ways – this work is an important component of building equality and diversity on and off of the blockchain.

The markets going up or down do not determine the viability of the technology, particularly for the future.

When The Flower Girls talks about “the future” we think of the children whose artistic ambitions we’ve supported and helped to nurture. The art collected by our team, much of which represents a snapshot of the effects of a global pandemic on children, has been preserved in the Arctic World Archive for tens of thousands of years. One of the artists we’ve supported was able to receive life-changing therapy thanks to her NFT sales.

Markets can be expected to fluctuate, but the technology and real world benefits will continue to make an impact.

NFTs are an entire technology, but if the question is about art NFTs in particular… NFTs offer artists unprecedented ability to remain connected with, reward, experiment with, and co-create with their collectors. It’s not necessary to take advantage of that ability, but it might be a missed opportunity to ignore it.

There will never be a day that the world has no room for people creating beauty. NFTs offer a unique platform for 1/1 artists to reach and be discovered by new audiences and a new generation of art collectors. 

My personal NFT journey is a suitable example: I joined the NFT Community on Twitter with zero followers less than a year ago, and have since collaborated with brands like Pepsi and Chicago Bulls, while my art has been collected by amazing individuals all over the world.

In terms of a large, generative collection, artists should consider the amount of work and “salesmanship” often required to launch and then sustain a project with thousands of unique tokens - each representing art they’ve created. A successful NFT project also requires sustained innovation and community engagement.

As a digital illustrator and collage artist, NFTs were a natural fit for my style, and they also enabled me to experiment more with animation and audio elements.

There’s no way we could have predicted the success that came from The Flower Girls, with over $15 million in sales volume and support from Gary Vaynerchuck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brie Larson, Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, and many other celebrities. I was certainly not prepared for such a positive response, and it’s been a challenge to adapt to this overwhelming attention!

NFTs have allowed me to give back in ways that I had never imagined possible. In the first seven months since launch, The Flower Girls project has raised more than $600k for children’s charities, including Save the Children’s Ukraine Crisis Fund and the Malala Fund, and committed more than $100k to collect 750 NFT artworks from 144 child artists. I have also found a community that is endlessly supportive and has surprised me every day with how engaged, fun, and positive they are.

We are excited to continue to grow The Flower Girls, create art, and support children!