M.I.A will have her own art exhibition where she announced an auction of unique digital artwork. The still image is called ‘Gifty 1’ and is part of the ‘NFT Garage Dance’ art series. The artwork will be available to purchase  for 24 hours on the 8th April via Foundation. Auction is NFT and has been described by press release as “bookending her 25-year tenure as a digital artist”.

GIF THANKX pic.twitter.com/mXFhTjKpGy

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) April 1, 2021

NFT which means non-fungible token is a new trend to sell art online. CBS explains: “think of an NFT as a unique proof of ownership over something you can’t usually hold in your hand — a piece of digital art, a digital coupon, maybe a video clip. Like the digital art itself, you can’t really hold an NFT in your hand, either — it’s a one-of-a-kind piece of code, stored and protected on a shared public exchange”.

Before M.I.A, other artists joined the NFT trend: Aphex Twin with the one-of-a-kind piece of art that has been sold for $128,000, Kings of Leon with their album ‘When You See Yourself’ or The Weeknd who sold his collection of new music and art last weekend. 

Following ‘Gifty 1’ will be the rapper’s first ever digital artwork from 1996 called ‘Kala Coyn’. M.I.A. described her upcoming auction in a statement: “KALA COYN and the GARAGE DANCE series is a living, breathing, psycho-spectral canvas that crystalizes this moment in time for me/ Visually, it’s a mind f*ck and embodies everything I’ve loved about the digital art arena. It’s only now that the appropriate gallery for my work finally exists.”

M.I.A is a singer, songwriter, record producer and an activist. In 2005 she released her debut album ‘Arular’ followed by six more albums and few hits songs like ‘Paper Planes’ from 2008 and ‘Bad Girls’ from 2012. 

You can check the full M.I.A.’s art collection here and reserve the price.