Claire Harris

Jen, co-founder of MORROW collective, is a good friend of mine and I love her art, it covers most of my house. One day she asked me if I had heard of crypto art. I hadn’t, but after many Google searches and a lot of conversations, I slowly realized there’s so much opportunity for talent to thrive in this industry and this region. The UAE is not only an incredible region for creativity but also is an internationally recognized art hub which will only continue to grow and prosper. It was then I knew we needed to do something in the digital / crypto art space to support local talent and build the overall industry here. So, we formed the dream team and cue MORROW collective! What I love the most about art, and this has been like a driver for me, is that you and I can stand in front of the same piece in an art and have two completely different reactions. I could be completely emotionally engaged with it, while you could feel nothing and either way that’s ok. And I think that is a really beautiful and powerful thing. There are not many circumstances where differences of feelings and opinions can be surrendered, understood, and ultimately appreciated for what they are. This also allows for conversations of conceptual and personal understandings, which in my opinion is the key to personal growth. The change in the art industry that blockchain brings is the removal of geographical boundaries, logistics, shipping, storage and framing, which are all things that can reduce an artist's ability for outreach. I recall a moment at Art Dubai last year where we had one artwork in three different exhibitions around the world at the exact same time. It was a real moment for me where I was like, “wow, there is something truly magical here”. The amount of people globally who can now see and engage with that work is a fundamental of why I am here. Boosting not only the industry but regional talent from the UAE is one of MORROW’s main objectives. Traditional galleries take the top 3% of artists so there's a lot of talent out there that, simply put, isn't getting an opportunity to shine. By supporting and growing the digital art industry we are on track to drastically change this, which is an incredibly exciting place to be. While we are so humbled and proud to work with some very well-known and incredible local and international artists, we also have a focus on emerging artists, and we are working hard to develop all these reputations in the crypto space. Initially, we launched MORROW collective with 12 gallery partners, 38 artists from galleries and 58 artworks. We were so early to market that the people currently were not asking about the art, only about what an NFT is. To see the development, understanding and embrace of digital art over the last 18 months has cemented that we are on the right path to not only develop crypto art as an industry but to enhance the wider art world. It’s really important to note that crypto art is not a direct competitor to traditional/physical art. Both belong and have the ability to boost each other significantly.