Emily Ratajkowski Is Reclaiming Control Of Her Image By Minting It As An NFT
Image via DFree / Shutterstock.com
Emily Ratajkowski joins the likes of Kate Moss and Paris Hilton as she launches a non-fungible token (NFT) at auction house Christie’s on May 14, as part of her efforts to reclaim her own likeness and image. Titled Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution, the NFT is closely-linked to an essay she published in The Cut last year.
According to The New York Times, in 2014, Ratajkowski was taken by surprise when the artist Richard Prince had reprinted one of her Instagram pictures on a large canvas, selling the photograph for US$90,000 as part of his New Portraits series. When she tried to buy the work, it had already been sold to a gallery employee. She then acquired another Prince Instagram “painting” of herself at a later date.
Ratajkowski’s NFT will feature an image of her photographed in her New York apartment, posing in front of the Richard Prince painting she bought.
In an Instagram post announcing the launch of the NFT, Ratajkowski explained: “The digital terrain should be a place where women can share their likeness as they choose, controlling the usage of their image and receiving whatever potential capital attached.”
She added, “NFTs carry the potential to allow women ongoing control over their image and the ability to receive rightful compensation for its usage and distribution.”
Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution will go on sale on NFT platform OpenSea, with no opening bid listed as of now.
[via The New York Times and Artnet News, cover image via DFree / Shutterstock.com]
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