A letter from Empress Trash
Marigolds hold profound significance across various cultures, symbolizing themes of love, devotion, and remembrance. In Mexico, where I currently reside, during Día de los Muertos, marigolds, known as "cempasúchil," are believed to guide the spirits of the departed back to the living with their vibrant color and scent. In India, marigolds are integral to religious ceremonies and festivals, symbolizing auspiciousness and used in offerings to deities. Their bright hues are thought to attract positive energy and ward off negativity. In Christianity, marigolds, referred to as "Mary's Gold," are associated with the Virgin Mary, symbolizing her golden aura and divine presence. On a personal and practical level, Marigolds were my grandma's favorite flower and she planted them everywhere to keep the deer away from the food gardens.
These cross-cultural connections highlight the marigold's universal role in embodying love, spirituality, and the eternal cycle of life — so I was inspired to challenge this group of artists to explore the Marigold — along with inspiration coming from seasonal timing, the flowers being the same color as the Bitcoin logo and the Sphere in Las Vegas during the recent UFC Fight Nights 306 had an immersive multimedia experience that wove in marigolds. These shared symbols tap into common human experiences, fostering connections across diverse societies. In this curation, I pulled artists from different areas of the world and varied practices to embrace this universal symbol and what it means to them with the only caveat it has to include the symbolism of the marigold somewhere in the piece. I hope you enjoy 🌈🖤
A brief note from eliherf
It is brilliant to see a Gamma Art Ambassador galvanise a group of artists she has befriended on her journey, to create a cohesive, yet vastly different group mint. Each artist created an original piece, and then went on to create 3-4 variations of that piece, which ensures each mint is unique, diverse, and full of surprises. A large portion of these artists are making their btc debut, which adds to the special nature of this drop.
Let’s meet Empress and her curated artists who are part of this group art drop below:
Empress Trash
I AM THE EMPRESS!
About their drop, titled Follow the Marigolds: Chatgpt, Midjourney, Photomosh, Photoshop
Wessel
Wessel is a creator, explorer of conscious and subconscious realms, builder of vibes. Abstract, illustration, animation, with a penchant for glitch. Where my gut points do I follow fully.
About their drop, titled Always Forward: Find a dream and fight for it. But also remember to breathe, stay hydrated, touch grass and all that good stuff. Wessel ‘24
Ozge Gulbakan
Ozge Gulbakan is a multidisciplinary artist from Türkiye who has placed art at the center of her life. Since childhood, she has been expressing her emotions and thoughts through drawing and playing with colors. In her works, she enjoys leaving space for viewers to add their own interpretations. Since 2021, she has been active in the NFT field; her works have been exhibited in places from Times Square in New York to Tokyo, Rome, and Dubai. Her goal is to transcend boundaries with her art and become a globally recognized artist.
About their drop, titled Danza de los Espíritus: This artwork reflects a celebration where spirits gather on the fine line between life and death. The sacred heart symbolizes the immortality of love, while the movement of skeletal figures represents the continuation of our energy beyond death. Flowers and traditional motifs celebrate the colors of life, inviting the viewer to join the spirits' dance. This scene offers a realm where past, present, and future intertwine.
Aoife O'Dwyer
Aoife (pronounced ee-fah) is an artist, illustrator & designer based in Ireland. She creates artwork that explores themes of perception, identity, reality, nature, technology, mythology and sci-fi. Her work is driven by a desire to imagine what lives in the gaps of human perception and aims to subvert expectations by combining the familiar in unfamiliar ways — often via queer and neurodivergent storytelling perspectives. Known for her distinct hand-drawn digital illustrations and an evolving body of AI referenced, assisted, created, and/or blended works.
About their drop, titled Púca: As the veils thin and our ancestors from the other world come to visit during the Samhain festival be sure to wear your Púca mask to avoid being taken by the mischievous spirits and fairies that will wander in search of offerings and humans to steal back to the otherworld. The Púca is an ancient Celtic ghost often said to be a shapeshifter and trouble maker. Taking on animalistic forms and spitting on so-called fairy touched wild fruits that spoiled after the last harvest.
lorepunk
lorepunk is a poet, journalist and copywriter in the U.K.
About their drop, titled the marigold trail: you can dowse for metal or magic. everything around us was once alive, including all that makes us.
ITERATION
Jess AKA Iteration hails from Texas and has been creating art in any way she can for over 20 years. She's inspired by nature, nostalgia, technology, and everything around her. Iteration's work is often colorful and takes notes from the 80's and 90's to bring you back in time while also giving a new outlook on the past and future.
About their drop, titled Mariglo: The Mariglo has everything you need to start your own personal garden - why go outside when you can cultivate digitally enhanced marigolds right from your computer room? Comes complete with the latest in digital soil simulation and pixel-perfect petals, as well as directions for real life flower stuff too if you're into that. Warning: actual and fictional plant growth not guaranteed.
jrdsctt
digital artist | jlitch artist | nerd | mostly water
from: minneapolis, mn, usa
currently living: salt lake city, ut, usa
bfa in digital art/photography from the university of minnesota duluth
work centers around distortion, abstraction, glitch, death, and jellyfish
exhibited & sold via sotheby's in 2023.
About their drop, titled 𝕭𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖆 𝕸𝖚𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖊: 𝕴 𝖍𝖔𝖕𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖉𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖆𝖒𝖊, 𝖔𝖍, 𝖘𝖚𝖌𝖆𝖗…
Creatress
Virtual and Mixed Reality Performance Artist, 3D Sculpting in Mixed Reality at live events around the world. Indigenous American “Latina” born in Mexico, inspired by her origins, ancestry, nature and technology.
About their drop, titled Amor Eterno: Amor Eterno, translates to Eternal Love; just like the cempazuchitl flowers, each life has its shining moment and its demise; but the love shared lives on eternally. In Mexican culture we honor the dead by lighting candles and making altars including their favorite flowers, food, water and other symbolic items. Each of the variations of this inscription features a different altar in the background, made by the Mora, Sedano, Solis families, and one traditional Nahuatl altar behind the eternal flame of love. The Mexican tradition of adorning an altar with marigolds is because it was said the scent and color of the flowers is so beautiful that it could guide the souls of the dead to the altar on Dia de los Muertos.
Purz
Purz's main focus is on retro futurism and manufactured nostalgia, and they are drawn to the idea of living in the past and the future at the same time. Their work often incorporates motion graphics and procedural design, which are filtered through the lens of dreamy video effects and distortion. Handmade, Procedural, Generative Art, 2D, 3D, Motion Graphics and AI.
About their drop, titled Wildflower Walk:
Procedurally generated gardens of pixelated marigolds, winding waterways, and charming countryside elements.
Shilly Preston
Shilly is an artist that uses Ai in almost every work he does. His art focuses mostly on the intersection of humanity and the dumbest things you could ever think of. HIs favorite types of art are surreal, dada, brut, and glitch. He received a C+ in his AP Art History class in High School so he knows a lot about art.
About their drop, titled Brocolli and Butterfly soup: Midjourney x Photopea
wondermundo
wondermundo, a 1st-gen Mexican-American artist & leader, entered the digital art realm in 2021. Post-trauma, she rediscovered her artistry, using it to heal, highlight vulnerabilities, & connect with others.
About their drop, titled Sacred Bloom: A flicker of memory for the unseen. I bloom to light the way, each petal a pulse in the void.
SquintDev
Squint is an audio/visual artist who's main focus is analog and digital glitch art.
About their drop, titled Noise Bloom: Capturing marigolds between birth and decay
jonCates
Glitch Artist from 1990s to now, jonCates creates the Glitch Western genre.
About their drop, titled Marry Gold HEX: Marry Gold HEX i decimal equals #EAA221" Glitch Western Animated GIF, versions one through four. — jonCates (2024)
