Announcing the first $AFTR commissioning
Today we’re excited to announce the first group of African artists that we’ll be commissioning with 400,000 $AFTR tokens each. Each artist will produce an NFT art piece that will be dropped into the $Afrofuture Vault and auctioned off on July 1st and 2nd.
Each artist will have 45 days to create an art piece in their unique style within the theme of Afrofuturism. Out of the five artists selected, three are based in Nigeria, one in Kenya, and one in South Africa.
Without further ado, meet the first five artists who will help to inspire a bright Africa-led future 🤖 🌍 🔮
Haneefah Adam 🇳🇬
Haneefah Adam is a self taught multidisciplinary artist with an MSc from Coventry University. Her work typically explores issues related to identity, culture and representation in society, with her personal experiences and observations serving as a focal point. Haneefah is known for contemporary work with an eclectic selection of media, ranging from painting, to photography, experimental digital and food art. Her work has received significant coverage from a number of international publications including CNN, BBC and New York Times. Haneefah currently lives and works in Nigeria.
Mwadzame Omar Kuta🇰🇪
Mwadzame Omar Kuta is a self-taught graphic designer specialising in digital art and surrealism. His work explores themes such as politics, pop-culture and traditions with a whiff of nostalgia. He believes graphic design is an integral part of any society. You can view his work at https://www.instagram.com/mwadzame/
Ayanfe Olarinde 🇳🇬
Ayanfe Olarinde is a self-trained visual artist currently exploring scribble art and photography. In 2018, she graduated from the university of Lagos with a BSc. In Microbiology. Her journey into art emanated from her love for scribbling, an art form bore out of imperfection on her quest for acceptance. Through this she is able to unpack her emotions in thought-provoking ways. Ayanfe’s artistic dynamism connects enthusiasts in more perspectives than one as she exploits her use of several medium including ink, paint, wire, and discarded objects in creating scribbles, doodles, sculptures, paintings, digital art, up-cycled artworks, and textures for her scribbles whilst speaking on broader issues of self exploration. As an evocative artist influenced by her passage through life, her perception has evolved to include photography and mixed media collages. In 2018, she was shortlisted for the GTBank Days of Dorcas photography contest. In 2020, she was listed amongst the 100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria. She lives and works in Lagos.
Riyahd Cassiem🇿🇦
Riyahd Cassiem is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and works as an independent freelance digital artist. He has worked on various projects from producing concept art, 3d sculpting, Vfx and Matt painting for films and games. He lectures part time in concept design and has produced tutorials for various publications like 3d world, 3d Artist, Cubebrush Imagine Fx and Advanced Photoshop. He specializes in creating concept design and illustrations using digital painting in Photoshop and 3d sculpting in ZBrush. You can view more of Riyahd’s work at riyahdc.wixsite.com/riyahd/about1
Osinachi 🇳🇬
Osinachi (born Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe, 24 October 1991) is a self-taught digital artist whose work explores personal experiences within a technological environment. Osinachi, who grew up in Aba, Nigeria, produces drawings using Microsoft Word, where he utilizes the basic limited design palette of the word processing software to create narrative illustrations. Africa’s foremost crypto artist, Osinachi‘s works are further registered in the blockchain and sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). His cryptoart is well sought after on platforms such as SuperRare, Rarible, OpeanSea, R.A.R.E., Portion, and Makersplace. In 2018, he became the first-ever Nigerian artist to showcase artworks at the Ethereal Summit, a conference in New York that seeks to bridge the gap between technology and art through blockchain. He was a finalist for the Bridgeman Studio Award 2019.
Follow us on Twitter at @afrofutureai, and join us on Discord to stay up to date on art drops and our upcoming Summer NFT drop 🌞🌞🌞
