Special Edition: Women Rule Web3—NFT Artist Ola Volo

this special edition Women Rule Web three. Now, the world of Web three is moving so fast from the metaverse to defy two n f T s. On this show, we'll break it down for you through interviews with incredible leaders, experts, and artists. Today we're talking to Ola Volo, a leading female artist out of Canada. OLA's large scale murals and significant illustration projects have resulted in a global audience and fan base. Born and raised in Kazakhstan, OLA's distinctive style

is drawn from Eastern European folklore, multicultural and identity. Over the past year, she's fallen in love with the n f T art space. Ola is one of the six amazing artists that we are featuring in the Seneca Women A Quality Collection, a special n f T collection with nifty Gateway. I spoke to Ola about her work. Here's what she had to say. Well, Ola, thanks so much

for joining us. Thank you so much for having me so we are absolutely delighted that you're part of the Seneca Women a quality collection, this collection that we're doing of six amazing women and ft artists. When did you get involved in n f T S and why? Thank you so much for having me part of the collection.

I'm absolutely delighted to be part of this incredible um collective of woman and uh, you know, and f T S have been part of my world since it's about a year and a half now that I've been creating work for n f T S. But um, I've been curious about how to you know, part of my creative process has been is digital. So this has been such a beautiful transition to rate the work I want that speaks from me and that I can share with a

completely new crowd of people. And the community is so tight that I I yeah that once I met that not transition, I would say, but as it included that as part of my creative process and a new community, and I feel like I expanded into like a more world connection with a lot more artists. So it's been beautiful. It's so true that the n f T community feel so tight and I'll at the same time very global. Yeah, so you feel so personally connected to people so quickly.

It's it's kind of an amazing thing, especially for someone like myself who's been working around global women's issues for so many years. I'm I'm super excited about this collection too. Is global nature and will continue to add artists from all over the world. That's amazing. I feel that also, you know, voices and styles are being recognized from across the world. But it's like there's space for it. Now, there's space for us to um to show our work. Uh, and it's it can be seen in seconds and on

a global stage. So yeah, this is I think this is just the beginning of something that's going to be become the new form of how we share our work for the future. Well, your work incorporates patterns that are almost like folklore illustrations. How does your personal background inform your art uh in a huge way? Actually, Um, I was born and raised in Kazakhstan, so UM I speak Russian, but my mom is Polish. So, but in Kazakhstan it's such a multicultural um hub. So my my dad uh

speaks Russian, my mom speaks Polish and Russian. So when we moved to Canada when I was ten, it's really become a way to like art became a way to bridge my those worlds together. So you know, all this Eastern European background merged with this being in Canada, So like, how do I speak about my background yet in a

modern way, in a contemporary way. So for me, I started to you know, relearn and understand Eastern European folklore and how folklore is actually super universal, and how these patterns are also universal, and how they you know, they evoke the sense of um, some sense of um, something familiar,

something that feels like it belongs to your childhood. But then it evokes emotion too, in me at least, So when I create my work, I like to borrow from those stories and those characters that I grew up with as a as a as a kid in Kazakhstan, and then I bring in the stories of and you know, in my as a woman, I just for me, I look at these how do I want to represent? What kind of woman do I want to draw? And represent

the emotions and the stories I want to tell? And each piece is different, but um, a lot of my work is inspired by those, you know, by my back around exactly, and and of course I I'm always trying to sort of learn more about my past and include into into my into my work, and in some way I try to bypass language as a way to connect, you know, with my family and my relatives back in Eastern Europe and also across Canada, and sort of I feel my work is very narrative and where I see

it that way at least, and that sort of by you know, bypasses those language barriers that I faced a lot when we came to Canada and I had to learn, you know, learn English, and now I live in Montreal where I'm learning French. So there's always been that language

barrier as part of my part of my life. I guess, yeah, Well, I'm I'm really lucky because I'm looking at this incredible piece of art that you did for the collection, and it is so it is so packed with emotion, and I think it does have so many layers of storytelling going on, and it's just it's pretty unbelievable. You know, you also are known for your murals. It's just incredibly large murals. How have you found, first of I'd love

to hear how you got into murals. But then also, you know, how are you finding you know, making n f T s versus making murals. When I got into murals, you know, it was been about ten years ago. Now it's been a decade. But I I love street art. I loved how you know, it always provoked conversations between people. So for me, I when I saw um a Sashphard ferry being to down the streets and I was like, man,

I really want to do that. I want to make work that feels like it's larger than me, that it feels like when I can leave it in a space or in a country or in a city that I love, and I can leave it and you could just live on its own. So some of the murals that make are like, you know, ten stories high or twelve stories high, and you know you're up there creating work. That's so it takes a long time, but it's you know that

it's it's a landmark. You know, it becomes your changeing space and you're also taking up space, you know, And that's something I was very shy about at the beginning about you know, I didn't feel like my style was really fitting with graffiti scene and and I was like, I don't know what, I just really want to do it. I wanted I felt like I needed to create on the streets and that was my passion at that moment. And I and when I started, I was like, no, wonder.

I was so drawn to it because it opened up a whole new community for me that I felt like was my tribe, you know, my my, my, my people in some way, and they're all creatives who love to be on the streets and and space and take up walls and make sure their voices are heard and so but you know, part of my creative process has always been sketching and going to places where the murals are going to be painted and understanding what the stories of the other community and making sure that that story of

the community is seen in the artwork, because it is they have to live with they artwork, you know, so I wanted to make sure they connect to it. So part of that process is doing a lot of revisions. And I thought that always kind of relied on digital art as a way of you know, being forgiving. And if you know you can change the art, you can shape it, you can refine and may get better and so, but that part of my process was also a little

bit lost and not um not shared with anyone. You know, I create a lot of digital work, but I would never and don't really expose it anywhere, and I would just jump into this portion of the murals. And when I when you know what I started doing n F T S, I realized that I was, you know, using my concepts and refining them to such a degree that I felt that they were they could live in the

digital space forever. I was so ready to you know, I had to refine them over and over to make sure that they're ready to be permanently in a different space. That's that's worldly and that's permanent. And I I thought, how how beautiful that that loop of the creative process actually feels so organic to me because it's always been there. It's just that I never, you know, my process kind of ended on the on the murals up the streets, and I would never come back to that digital piece again.

And then this sort of like, um, yeah, it just kind of completed my completed that loop for me at least for now and then and then to be able to see all these creators doing such different variety of styles and like today, you know, I don't have to go somewhere to Germany just to see that piece. I can actually you know, being you know, see that artist be creative and today and not not you know, and not from years ago. So I feel like it connected

us even closer. Yeah, it's so interesting what you're saying about, like taking up space like the big you know, ten story urals, and at the same time you're kind of doing the same thing in the digital world because you're able to, you know, have, like you said, that permanent, lasting and instantly global recognition of your work. We'll be back after this break for this collection, which I am just I'm just so awe inspired by the by the sixth of you artists that are part of the collection.

You know, we had asked for each artist to share with us how they envision equality. So how did you think about the piece for this collection. I've thought a lot about the space because once we started talking, you know this, it was exactly when the war broke out in Ukraine, and it really affected me deeply because I have a lot of family living in on the border of Ukraine, in New Poland and Russia and it just felt everybody was in such in such distraught and I

was right away. I felt like I needed to create something that speaks about how much, you know, we we need to be united, we need to feel like we have each other's back, we need to especially the woman. And you know, my family was so affected by it too. So there's a lot of conversations that were happening right at that moment of creation. And so as I said, like a lot of the times when I create, I want to create work that it feels so close to me and feels so close to the community that I'm

part of. So I thought that really felt the need to create something as a reflection of this, of this moment in my life and moment in the world. And so I created these two characters that you know, represent about being taking care of each other, knowing that we have each other's back. And woman, we all suffer the same and so I want like we feel that pain.

And I wanted these women to feel that they that they have each other, that they have each other forever, and that I don't know, they're there, their closeness there.

You know, they're they're wearing traditional addresses and yeah, they're their modern contemporary woman, and so there's these a lot of symbology of you know, the sunflowers and the tattoos that evoke power and and and that that they have within themselves, you know, the birds, the flowers, and I really wanted this piece to feel like, although it's very sensitive and um, I don't know how to say it, but delicate in some ways, in their eyes, there's a lot of like, um, you know, I feel like with

with with people in general, you just need to feel united and feel like you can get through anything. And so that's I really didn't know how to create a piece that evokes more some kind of positivity in such a hard time, and I felt like this piece kind of exactly fits right in that middle where it's sensitive but it's empowering, and that's the emotion I wanted to come across from this piece. I think you definitely accomplish that.

And the strength in their eyes too, I feel like the strength in their eyes and the way they're connected physically, I think it's just amazing. And the layers, I mean, the detail and the layers is just really really beautiful. Thank you. That took me forever. I can only imagine I mean, the precision is just really exquisite. I mean it's just really really beautiful. Thank you so much. Yeah, I can't wait for the world to see. I feel

very lucky because I have a sneak peek. So I guess my last question is, and maybe you've addressed some of this, but still, you know, do you think Web three and f t s have been good for women will be good for women. I'm very bullish on what Web three can do for women, but really curious what you think. Me too, I think I think this is a huge opportunity for us to take up space and differently.

And I, as I said earlier, like for for me, when I got into a different community of straight art and murals, I felt like I don't know if it belonged in the space or I felt the same way.

And when I got into the n f T space at the beginning that when I was a year and a half ago, and it took a year and a half or a year when I was like, oh, I feel like there's a lot more women in here, and I feel so much more excited about the future because you could tell the voices are very like you feel that their styles are welcomed and the kind of messaging we put into our work is is you know, is celebrated. And I'm like, this is I think this is a

beautiful opportunity to challenge the space, the art space. And it's all we've always struggled to take up space and museums and in galleries and and we do it, and we do it well, but it's been, it's been, it's been, you know, a challenge of its own. So think this is another way for us to you know, jump jump the you know, kind of like bypass the traditional way of doing things and and create work and unite other other artists and collaborate between women across the world in

the world very organic way. And I'm like this, I think it actually has a huge opportunity for styles and voices to be heard like immediately. We don't have to wait until, you know, we get picked up by the biggest museum or something. No. I think this is this is the moment for us to be able to bypass that and you know, create work that's seen in the world like immediately. I love that. I mean, that's that's

what I'm feeling about this too. As someone who's working trying to push for women's advancement in all different institutions and places, and thank you for that. Thank you so much for that trying, trying, trying, But now I see that with technology there's the chance to not have to ask for permission um and to just kind of taking straight to the people. And and I think that's that's

a really exciting moment. But it's really important that the narrative that's written around women and Web three is a true one. And I think there are women in Web three, and I think you know what you're doing, what the other women artists are doing. I think this is like a really important statement, particularly in this moment. As you said earlier, So again, Ola, sincere, sincere, thanks for being part of this collection, for what you're doing, and so excited for the world to see it all such a

pushtion to toxicam and thank you. I can't wait to share this. I think it's going to be a beautiful collection, and I thank you for everything you do. I am so honored to be, you know, to be part of this. What an amazing conversation with Ola and her work is so inspiring. Go to Seneca women dot com to see her work and the other artists in the Seneca Women A Quality Collection. Join us tomorrow for another Women Rule

Web three conversation. Have a great day. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on power and purpose, brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio with support from founding partner of P and G. If you'd like to join the Seneca Women Network, go to Seneca Women dot com. There you'll get access to exclusive events and workshops, plus updates on new podcasts and other opportunities to get involved.