It is impossible for any crypto nerd to not know who Yam Karkai is !!
And if one has still not heard of the World of Women(WOW) NFT project, one actually has so much to learn, to know in the crypto space. I mean c’mon the WOW project is ranked 21st in the top NFTs of all time on Opensea.
The star project that has caught everyone’s attention is what happens when the aesthetics of culture meets the beauty of women. But what is more impressive about this project is that it has various long-term philanthropist goals (truly, wow isn’t it!!)
Yam Karkai is a digital illustrator and NFT artist who, with her women-centric pieces, is working to bring women into the mainstream NFT scene. She also addresses certain aspects of women’s lives through her works.
Growing up between Europe and the Middle East was like growing up between two very different worlds and two very different societies and cultures for Yam and that is something that reflects in her creative efforts.
She had always been a creative kid as a child but the thought of taking up her artistic talents as a profession never crossed her mind.
Nevertheless, before stepping into digital arts, she worked as a waitress, scriptwriter, and even a translator for legal documents.
She also worked in the department of Google Ads Quality before diving into the crypto space.
It was when she took digital arts as a profession, that she finally co-founded the World of Women NFT project with BBA, Raphaël Malavieille and Toomaie in May 2021.
The World of Women NFT is a collection of 10,000 randomly generated digital collectibles of various rarities living on the Ethereum blockchain as ERC-721 tokens and hosted on IPFS. As the name suggests, this project is a collection of unique, cool and diverse women.
The women are created with distinct facial features, bright pastel colours, eye colours, hairstyles, and thus are a composition of beautiful, diverse women with pop aesthetics. Her creations are images of concepts of joy, female empowerment, self-confidence and positivism.
She is greatly inspired by bright pastel colours, the 60s and 70s art movements, strong women, and her middle-eastern heritage.
Her NFT Artworks
Through her NFTs, Karkai aims to introduce and include more women in the crypto space. She confesses that NFTs have brought her economic stability which wasn’t the case before.
Although her NFTs are predominantly portraits of women, they are also a story waiting to be told.
World of Women NFT Collection
The artist created a universe of 10,000 different women, each one with diverse features, created in her signature hand-drawn colourful style using Procreate and Adobe Illustrator.
The NFT collection was created with the aim of representing inclusivity and increasing diversity. It is created by people from all over the world so that the resultant art feels authentic to people of all backgrounds.
The project is a welcoming token for minorities and emerging women artists in the changing NFT space.
Yam’s conjured up world has its own aureole and a hallmark beauté that flows in all her works and still generates pristine artworks every time.
She playfully employs vivid blending of colour combinations together with soft lines and a stroke of fantasy.
Woman #7242, Woman #8570, Woman #4045 is owned by Snoop Dogg.
Woman #526, Woman #6451, Woman #6403, Woman #8072, Woman #1467, Woman #5059 are some of the World of Women NFTs that have been bought by Hollywood superstar Reese Witherspoon. She is also the proud owner of Frost Rose and Late Night Chill from the World of Women Collabs, a collaboration between WOW and other artists that takes place every season.
Speaking of which, recently, the famous artist Alexa Meade also collaborated with WOW for her NFT titled, ‘With the Weight of the Melting Glaciers on our Shoulders’.
The co-founders of WOW have always time and again emphasised the manifold roadmap of the project.
Acting on it, the WOW community has supported many women’s causes including She’s the First, Rockflower Fund, Code to Inspire, Blankets of Hope, British Fashion Council Foundation, Strange Cintia(an artist from the community). It is also helping Code Green to finance verified citizen-powered climate solutions.
Kalamint Collection
This platform offered just one edition of a single NFT- Woman No 011 which was created on Tezos Blockchain.
- Women No 011
This NFT shows a woman sitting meditatively near the salt lake. The serenity of the salt lake transports one to a soul-searching dimension, a place where you might seek the answers to the toughest question.
Imagine getting off the emotional turmoil to step into a place where there’s just tranquility!
Foundation NFT Collection
On this platform, single editions of Woman n°006, Woman n°010, Woman n°012, Woman n°013, Woman n°016, Woman n°017 are sold with exclusive ownership license!
- Queen of Lightning
Woman n°017 was sold for 18.555 ETH
A strong, unforbidden woman that hides behind a gloomy grey cloud, waits for her moment in complete silence.
Her power lies in the calm mien that she evokes, however, an element of surprise lingers around her! “…but when she rises, oh when she rises, you will hear her voice as she reclaims her spot”.
- Carrier of the elements
Woman n°016 was sold for 15 ETH.
This NFT evokes the elements that create this world: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.
Each of these elements is captured as an essence in her bejeweled amulet.
She carries them to make copies of herself that, like the core elements, change, move, interact, evolve with each other to strike the right balance in the world.
- Nut
This NFT is part of her collection “Women by Yam: Females in the Spotlight”. It was sold for 13.50 ETH.
This piece is inspired by the artist’s love for mythology and female deities from ancient civilizations. Thus, it is inspired by the Egyptian Goddess Nut who is the Goddess of the cosmos, the sky, astronomy, the universe, and the wall between chaos and order.
All the celestial bodies are shown locked up in her tresses that remind of outer space!
Opensea Collection
‘The Women by Yam- Females in the spotlight’ is a collection of NFTs by Yam Karkai available on the Open Sea marketplace.
- Introverted Tulip
An epitome of sensitivity, emotional, beautiful introverted tulip. The emotional walls around her are as fragile as glass. It is therefore, she gets careful when letting her guard down to stay protected in the wild world.
- Two faces
Woman n°001 was purchased by Snoop Dogg himself for 33 ETH.
A pictorial souvenir of the dilemma, being in two states at one point. Thus, the emotional duality is created by combining two faces through soft shapes and gentle colours that go well with each other.
- The fire within you
Woman n°015 was re-purchased by Snoop Dogg himself for 22 ETH.
This NFT is an inspiration from an ancient Egyptian book, where Anubis and Matt have a deceased person’s heart weighed against the feather of truth. The fire represents the powerful spark within each one of us that should be used with virtue, to fight for justice and the universal good.
Motifs and Style
The soft pastel colors, delicate lines, and beautiful facial features transports one to the fleeting 60’s, 70’s while still echoing the strong, mystical voices of women.
Her works remind of the Pop Art of the 60’s however, with a twist i.e, the soft pastel colours that she makes use of. She makes use of multicultural aesthetics in the form of Middle Eastern jewellery that, according to Yam, reminds of her mother’s necklace in her childhood.
Her multicultural background makes way through her creativity to the canvasses of NFT. The faces which one might actually meet even though they are an amalgamation of ‘subliminal mystery, realistic fantasy’, paradoxical yet very much resembling!!
The work invokes the ideas of inclusivity, representativity, and diversity through women!
Yam Karkai’s artistic manoeuvre provides a kaleidoscopic view of what would the world of NFT (or for that matter, tech) space be like with equal women representation in a space that was formerly deemed as male-centric.
A new aesthetic space in soft hues, strong voices; diverse creativity and an optimistic future.
Click to read about other Women NFT Artists who were a part of our International Women’s Day celebration.
