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One of the few young Nigerians to make money from NFTS is Inatimi Nathus, “Nazquiat”.
During the pandemic, a new method of payment gained prominence – cryptocurrency even though it experienced its first boom in 2018 and then in 2021, we started hearing about digital arts known as NFTS.
Every plant begins as a seed, what is the story behind his art? How did it all begin? His story into the world of art and NFT is nothing short of coincidental
“Nazquiat is a homage to my favourite artist Jean Michel Basquiat. His bravery in his artistic expression inspires me greatly.”
“I am a multidisciplinary creative with an artistic gift to tap into several creative mediums ranging from Digital Paintings, Animation, Graphic Design, 3D renders, Photography & filmmaking.”
“In my art, you can find me cleverly & abstractly weaving tales of my identity, pain, dreams, pride, fears, experiences & willingness to evolve.”
Like most young Nigerians, there was a disparity between the course he studied in the university and what he wanted to do with his life.
“My numerous life experiences allowed me to grow into a better, more patient artist and most importantly understand the importance of storytelling. “
“I was an artistic child, but my journey as a digital artist officially started in 2013, while I was in university. I struggled academically -one semester into my second year, I tried my best but always struggled to perform.”
“So, I decided to learn how to make beats and then became sort of a sound engineer. Emphasis on the sort of.”
“I came across design software and started watching tutorials online, practising & posting my work on Facebook and Instagram — at the time, that was just me expressing myself. This also led me to become a creative professional, learning skills like graphic design, animation, video editing, and art/creative directing.”
“These skills provided an opportunity to make a living for me. I was doing all that to pay the bills and have a career, but if I had my way back then, I’d have preferred to focus on making digital art. “
He only recently came across NFTS
“In late 2020, I first heard about NFTs from a YouTube channel about Tech that I watch weekly. It was an interesting concept for me, but I didn’t dive into that immediately.”
“I was occupied with a lot of things at the time, and because I didn’t know any other person who made NFTs, I was in doubt about how I could be successful in this “NFT” world, so I put it on the back burner of my mind as something I was going to come back to.”
“I took the leap of faith in early 2021, and here we are today talking to each other. ”
His attempt at explaining NFTs to a five-year-old,
“Honestly, NFTs are no different than your Pokemon cards, sweets, dolls or video games. Nothing is mystifying about them.”
“They are just digital items we can buy and own. And we already buy digital assets all the time. People have spent money on many digital goods like Twitter verification check marks, Followers, FIFA video game Points, Mobile game upgrades, Facetune face filters.”
The highlight of his career as an NFT artist.
“I would say so far, it’s 4, the first would be, being part of the Obsucra DAO “who we are” photography collection which at the time was the biggest photography NFT collection ever made.”
“Afrotroves becoming a critically acclaimed NFT project garnering international attention from multiple websites and gaining multiple collectors.”
“Creating the (Thank You For Creating Collective) TY4CC, It’s a collective on web3 artists dedicated to promoting great digital artists and creating web3 experiences and my photography got featured on the front page of Objkt.com which is an NFT marketplace on the Tezos Blockchain.”
Nazquiat takes us through the journey involved in creating his latest collection, the afrotroves, a project that takes us back in time to our artistic past before they were taken away to museums overseas.
“I think it all began around August 2021, when I sold my 1st NFT. I got super motivated & inspired to make something new. So, I searched online, looking for new inspiration.
“Fortunately, after my search went in vain, I thought to myself, that maybe I should check my roots. I’m from the Ijaw tribe of southern Nigeria. So, I went searching for Ijaw art on the internet.”
“Then I came across loads of it. More than I’ve ever seen before. Now, mind you, the Ijaw tribe are a minority of Minorities in Nigeria. So, our culture hardly gets any mainstream representation in Nigeria.”
“I kept on looking at all I had found, but sadly I saw that I was on an auction site where these sacred artefacts were being sold to the highest bidder.
“This was saddening as I, who am a child of this culture, hadn’t seen any of these things before, so I did the next best thing. “Right click save” but weeks later I kept on searching and saving art beyond just that of my tribe, and then I started thinking what l could do with these, and then I made the first five and showed them to my friends, they loved it but didn’t really know what I was doing at that point.”
“The Afrotroves Collection started with just me, but it turned into a collaborative effort when I got stuck creatively after I created the first 15 NFTs. “
Since NFTs are a relatively new concept, here is what he thinks the future of NFTs plus his assessment of Nigeria’s creator economy and the NFTs landscape
“I think we would begin to see more real-world and institutionalized applications for NFTs alongside some innovation with blockchain technology and adoption by some governments.”
“Apart from the validation, notoriety and confidence that it’s giving many Nigerian artists and Creatives will get from seeing my art being bought or displayed all around the world.”
“It allows many of us the opportunity for the first time ever to be 100% focused on being an artist and not having to worry about shuffling freelance jobs in entertainment, advertising or for clients.”
“Most importantly, the NFT space opens more opportunities for Nigerian Digital artists are able to afford a decent life as many of these crafts aren’t valued as much as you might see in a first-world nation.”
“Not to mention, more artists being able to invest some of their income into creating ideas that might be useful to Nigeria and its people and being able to support family members.”
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