Falana & Studio Sanaa Present – “The Rising” NFT Series On Nifty Gateway: Nigerian-Canadian recording artist, Falana, teams up with Studio Sanaa for two NFT installations of “The Rising” series on Nifty Gateway. The projects feature top digital artists Anthony Azekwoh (creator of Homecoming Vol 1) collaborating with Duro, and the NFTs of the original six paintings inspired by Falana’s “Rising” EP.
Falana, described by Vogue as ‘Nigeria’s coolest front row artist’, released her critically-acclaimed second EP, “Rising” in October 2021. Her music developed into visual art representations through collaboration with 6 of Nigeria’s top contemporary artists, Uthman Wahaab, Lemi Ghariokwu, Ayanfe Olarinde, Abba T. Makama, Laju Sholola and Elizabeth Ekpetorson, leading to the curation of The Rising Installation concert during Africa’s biggest contemporary art fair, Art X Lagos.
The Rising NFT series is the third creative iteration of this project and embodies the central themes of the Rising EP – “emotions and stories that “empower women”, represented from music, to canvas, to digital art.
The Studio Sanaa collaborative project is a two-part drop of 2 collections and 2 auctions. Each drop is a unique visual representation of music from the Rising EP and the art piece that inspired its creation. The first drop is a 7 piece collection by Anthony Azekwoh & Duro — Anthony Azekwoh is at the forefront of a new generation of artists and one of the most exciting digital artists. Duro, whose work includes the iconic cover art for artists such as Davido and WizKid. The collaboration between these incredible artists and Falana led to their unique visual development of the empowerment of women via a series of notes from a mother to her daughter. Azekwoh tells a powerful story of a woman, of a journey, of choices, of falling and of course, of rising. Inspired by Falana’s music and the collaboration, Azekwoh and Duro wanted to make a body of work that, as much as possible, showed that admiration. All this, captured in the seven-piece collection that makes up the first drop, is set to be auctioned on May 20, 2022. Titles of the 7 piece collection are: Adétọ́lá is Born (Sweet Adétọ́lá), Growing Pains (Casanova), Paper Planes, Energy, Wishing on a Star, Electric Lady and Rising (Joy).
The second ‘sister drop’ will be NFTs of the original six Art pieces inspired by the Rising EP. These NFT’s combine music from the EP with animation of the original Art prepared by the UK based Morph studios, in collaboration with the animators of the “Monet By the Water” immersive experience. The sister drop will feature twenty editions and one auction on May 28, 2022. These pieces were created by Ayanfe Olarinde, Laju Sholola, Elizabeth Ekpetorson, Abba T Makama, Uthman Wahaab and Lemi Ghariokwu, creator of the iconic Fela Kuti album covers. For almost all these artists, the Rising NFT is the first representation of their work as NFTs, and are available exclusively on Nifty Gateway.
