Lady PheOnix

Pretty much every digital art project Lady PheOnix participates in, or curates blows up headlines. This year, though, with the rise of NFTs and spotlight on digital culture, Lady PheOnix’s voice proves more important than ever. 

Let’s start with the June 3rd NFT sale at Christie’s, PROOF OF SOVEREIGNTY. The first of its kind for the auction house, Lady PheOnix produced a curatorial and market genius work, bringing together works by artists like Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, and Gucci and raking in $995 million in sales. (Notably, Kevin McCoy, also on this year’s list, provided the technology used to mint the vast majority of NFTs in this sale.) 

More recently, her AR experience for the Tribeca Film Festival, Breonna’s Garden, made in collaboration with Breonna Taylor’s sister Ju’Niyah Palmer, touched the hearts of many still grieving for Taylor. Murdered last year by police, Taylor’s case and the failures of a system to provide accountability and punishment to those officers involved became a rallying call for protesters. 

“I wanted to be a part of this movement nationally for rights for Breonna,” she said in a recent interview with Voices of VR Podcast. “We have to use our gifts in service of one another, and this was my protest and my gift.”