I’m sure everyone has heard about Bitcoin but have you thought about what would Bitcoin look like if it were a person? Would Bitcoin be a man or a woman or not even human? Turning abstract ideas into images is my favorite challenge, so I dove into my imagination to find the answer to the question: “What would Digital Gold look like if it were a person?”

Bitcoin scene

Bitcoin is a digital currency not controlled by any government or central bank. It has been around for about ten years, and many believe it to be the future of currency. However, cryptocurrency, in general, is a debated topic, and the controversy is reflected in the volatility of the market value even for the most famous and stable cryptocurrencies. Investing in Bitcoins is arguably a risky business, and for whatever reason, most of the investors are men -in fact, there are three times more men than women investing in Bitcoins. Interestingly, even though women are a minority in investors, the female Crypto and NFT community is strong and well connected, definitely not outshined by men despite being outnumbered. This dynamic got me thinking…

Bitcoin is a Woman!

In the end, it was obvious to me: Bitcoin has to be a woman. All-powerful being made out of solid gold, with some alien-like characteristics and digitalized features, ones and zeros. Picturing this being in my mind I remembered one of the characters in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy: The Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign called Ayesha. Images of the golden goddess of Bitcoin were flashing in my mind now, so I started a mood board and decided to make this image a reality.

Finding the team

I knew that this image would need some heavy styling and makeup, so the first thing was to look for a stylist and a model for this project. I had seen some fantastic work by the artist called Mona Isa -an amazing talent as a model but as a bonus, she makes pretty much all of her outfits herself. I asked if she would be interested in doing this project with me and I was so happy when she said yes! We started pitching ideas for the styling and within the next few weeks, we had a pretty solid idea how Bitcoin Queen should look like and how we can pull it off. Like in most of my artwork, the planning, crafting and photoshoot are essential parts of the process, but the final magic happens when I use the produced photograph as a base for the retouching, or actually, rethinking the image to match the vision in my head.

Bitcoin Queen

So here it is. My latest artwork is called Bitcoin Queen: Digital gold imagined as a person. The Bitcoin Queen in my vision is an all-powerful being who controls the fate of Bitcoin. In the image, you might notice that she is bleeding from the eyes, a reference to how painful it is to see the current volatility in the Bitcoin market. Despite the turmoil, she is standing tall and bold because nothing can break her. So the next time you are thinking of investing in Bitcoin, think of her as the guardian behind all your assets. She will dominate the galaxy!
p.s. I have the next Crypto Queen in the planning stage. What do you think Ethereum will look like, or Polygon, Chainlink, Luna, Polkadot .. so many ideas brewing!

Few words from Mona Isa

“Hi! I’m Mona Isa! I do modeling with my own creations and also I’m a professional makeup artist. I love modeling if I can create stuff for it. Like the outfit, makeup etc . I love working with lovely and kind people who are really talented! It makes me very excited about creating awesome stuff! When Antti asked me if we could create something awesome, in my head I just said “hell yes!”.
Antti had this Bitcoin idea with a mood board and quickly I had an idea of what I could do. Of course, my outfit idea changed with time and I changed it one night before the shoot. It was worth it tho! Look what we did! Epic stuff!!
We had so much fun and I’m really excited to create more awesome stuff with Antti!”

– Mona Isa

Team
Concept, photography, retouching: Antti Karppinen
Model, costume, props, Muah: Mona Isa
Assistant: Niina Markkanen