Nov 21, 2021

Peaceful Times

Canberra artists pull off double Covid-pivot - into crypto, and the Matrix

Everyone has the Covid-pivot story, from Gin makers that pivoted into making hand sanitisers, the 3D printing hobbyists who pivoted into making PPE equipment for nurses and doctors, and commercial airlines pivoting to cargo flights.

And then there’s those who made the best of a challenging situation – the Italians in lockdown serenading the world with opera from their balconies, the festival goers that carried on festival-ing in personal plastic bubbles. And let's not forget Gal Gadot’s rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine. Actually, we should all forget that. All of us.

Canberra-raised artists Nara O’Neil and Jessie-May Nel are launching their own Covid-pivot in October 2021, launching a new exhibition, Peaceful Times, in virtual form. In more normal times Nara would welcome attendees to his exhibitions in an exhibition hall or gallery. But not in 2021, Covid-19 has called on the local artists to stretch their creativity further than usual.

Nara explains "Our innovative online gallery in first person style, emulates a virtual trip to an art gallery, an experience unavailable to many of us at this time."

And rather than selling his art purely in physical form, Nara is also poised to pivot into the burgeoning world of NFTs – the new frontier for crypto currencies.

Not quite familiar with the latest cryptocurrency trend? Let's explain.

N. F. T - Three little letters. A whole lot of hype.

Non Fungible Tokens (NFT's) are the latest craze dazzling, bamboozling and revolutionizing both blockchain and fine art markets. This isn't your average trend though. Some of these digital assets are selling for big bucks with a recent sale of a single JPEG selling for over $69 million USD, and it doesn't look like things are slowing down.

So what is an NFT? NFT's essentially offer a certificate of authenticity via blockchain technology to establish ownership for digital files. That's right, certified ownership of any digital file. Whether that be artwork, audio files, memes, photography, tweets or even clips of legendary moments in basketball.

Nara explains why this might be of interest to the fine art world. "Artists have been steadily losing their place in this world and the NFT movement has brought us back in a tour de force.

Take Cath Simard for instance, and her battle for intellectual property which was recently won by selling her piece and releasing the rights back to the world.

NFTs empower artists to create, and the royalty system feeds any future profits straight back to the original creators."

About the work itself, Peaceful Times is a series of images bringing home the tranquility of nature to us wherever we are. Created during a period of physical and mental lockdown using visual representations of a time forgotten.

Peaceful Times encourages us all to open our minds to the possibility that serenity can be felt from nature, no matter your location on this earth... and we could all use a bit of that right now.

For a sneak peek at Peaceful Times and the virtual gallery space, check out:

oncyber.io/peacefultimes

For further information please contact Nara O’Neil via email: Mountainwalkphotography@gmail.com

More details about Nara and Jess:

Mountainwalk (@moutainwalk) are a duo of artists with a love of nature, a fascination with people, and an obsession with creating meaningful images.

Each image by Mountainwalk strikes a conversation, each capture a breathtaking connection with life.

Their goal is to invoke feeling and create emotion.

Nara and Jess combine these sentiments to create art that is unique.

Exhibition: oncyber.io/peacefultimes

Opensea: opensea.io/collection/peacefultimes