Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly? – Frida Kahlo
The legacy of an artist can often be determined by the impact and influence their art holds across generations, across communities, and across geographical boundaries.
Renowned as Mexico’s most popular painter – Frida Kahlo was an example of excellence whose artistry continues to have an impact in our lives and in our society.
Her artistic legacy molds into the form of an incredible biographical narrative in which, using drama and rich symbolism, Frida shares the story of her intimate experiences, her despair, her beliefs, and her values.
Growing up in Mexican City, Martin Mobarak was someone who was introduced to the works of Frida at an early age. He was fascinated with her paintings and the cultural impact Frida had in extending the history of Mexico.
As Martin grew up, his understanding of art expanded and simultaneously his appreciation for Frida’s work and her life beyond.
Today, Martin Mobarak, a global entrepreneur and visionary, aims to immortalize the legacy of Frida Kahlo with Frida.NFT, a pioneering innovative blockchain technology reforming the charity industry to increase transparency, donation frequency, and donor incentive.
Love at First Sight
Martin grew up in a Lebanese/Mexican household with a strong influence of Lebanese culture.
For him, the food, the music, and art were a different world altogether. He discovered Mexican culture as he started his high school years.
Through his school trips to cultural sites, Martin grasped more understanding of the country’s rich history.
He recalls his first visit to the Museum of Frida and getting introduced to her artworks. “It was a very typical field trip on every school in Mexico. But to me it was extraordinary as I was immediately fascinated with her paintings, like love at first sight, even though I visited the museum several times during my school years, each time was like a first time.”
Martin’s involvement with arts increased during his high school years, when he signed up for artistic shop classes and plastic arts school.
“One of my best friends was a prominent painter, and a teacher in Mexico City in the school of Plastic Arts, which is how I got more serious with art and education myself in the school.”
Martin eventually moved to a different state, pursued college, and started his professional journey. However, he brought his love for admiring and collecting art with him in this journey.
Fascination with Technology
Throughout his professional journey as an entrepreneur and business leader, Martin Mobarak has been a passionate visionary of technology.
He mentions “I owned one of the first ISP providers in anchorage Alaska. I was involved in the development of the Internet between 1993 – 1998. I’ve always been involved in technology.”
Moreover, when Martin was introduced to the burgeoning blockchain technology and Bitcoin in 2009, he became obsessed with the potential of the industry. The led him to start his own cryptocurrency AGCoin, which is a silver-backed crypto.
“AGCoin is the first crypto platform to invest in Silver, and it’s the next generation precious metal tokenization model with continuous access to liquidity and availability. Creating a silver-backed tokenomy while tokenizing vault deposits, we have attempted to produce innovative solutions that address customers’ needs but also provides consistent support. “
Martin learned about blockchain through various different conferences in Dubai and the US, while in the last year, he has learnt all about NFTs.
Frida.NFT
Martin realized the potential of the NFT market and how the technology can be leveraged to bring forth a change in the charity space. This prompted him to introduce Frida.NFT.
Frida.NFT’s vision is to create the bridge between the traditional art world and the expanding potential of Web 3.0. This community-driven initiative has a vision to introduce Frida’s work into the metaverse and leverage her powerful likeness to bring together a community of collectors, creators, and art lovers on a mission to merge the traditional art world with the digital art world’s expanding potential and immortalize humanities story.
“Like a Phoenix rising from its ashes, this collection of 10,000 NFT’s represents the rebirth & immortality of a timeless piece by Frida Kahlo “Fantasmones Siniestros or “Massive Sinister Ghosts.”. This piece will be transformed to live eternally in the digital realm.”
Valued over $10,000,000, Martin has decided to take this to be the first perpetual royalty charity initiative.
The mission for Martin and team is to create a consistent donation stream to charities, while rewarding the ones who are willing to be a part of this journey.
He mentions, “Each Fantasmones Siniestros NFT grants the holder membership to our exclusive art-driven charity foundation along with a host of ever-evolving benefits including, but not limited to, access to luxurious amenities, unique experiences, and exclusive events around the globe.”
NFTs and Charity
According to Martin, NFT holds the key in revolutionizing the entire charity industry!
He elaborates, “Blockchain technologies are the answer, if managed correctly to raise capitals for many industries, why not charitable ventures? It’s a very viable solution for possible perpetual pipeline of funds, transparent and secure.”
Over the last decade, Martin has collected timeless pieces of history. “As the current owner of the paintings, I have a vision of creating perpetual donations to multiple organizations for the needy with royalties from the NFT sale and collection.”
Martin’s goal is to make an impact by providing donors full transparency of foundation funds, increasing donation frequency through perpetual donations, and dramatically increasing a much larger incentive for the community to donate.
The charity industry has struggled to keep up with the advancements in technology and digitalization, thereby prompting the public to take notice. “Inefficient bookkeeping, unpleasant user experiences, and distrusting donors make for an industry that is quickly losing public interest.”
Owing to scandals surrounding mismanagement of donors’ gifts and general lack of transparency, public confidence in charity leaders has seen a sharp decline in the last decade.
According to the Give.org Donor Trust Report, 32 percent of respondents trust charities less today than they did five years ago.
Giving Back
For Martin, giving back to the society is an integral part of his value system. Moreover, his personal experiences with his daughter have given him this unique perspective “It is bigger than, me, you, and Frida would have understood it if she was alive.”
During his early years living in Alaska, Martin’s first daughter was diagnosed with a rare congenital disease and due to this he had spent countless sleepless nights in the hospital, broken and helpless. This was 30 years ago. And that changed him completely.
“I was myself in need of a place to stay, and these financial and logistical difficulties, as well as the broken health system in this country, made me want to take things into my own hands, just like Frida had done. Years later, when I became wealthy, I helped countless patients, their parents whenever I was in the hospitals, this time for my second daughter Elektra (now 11 years old) who was diagnosed with Crouzon Syndrome. Anytime, I see a person in need in the broken health system I had to interfere. Therefore the proceeds from the sale of all the NFTs will go to the Charities that are dear and near to my heart and very important for my family,” he recalls.
Similar to him, Martin saw a number of other families who were facing this struggle to afford the care they needed. He tried to help them in whatever capacity he possibly could. Along with his daughter’s battle, Martin prepared himself to combat the broken healthcare system of the country.
“While my daughter had surgery after surgery (21 surgeries in total) and recovery of 3 months each time….it was difficult, but I managed, I got help from a loving family and other giving people. There are many families in need of help all the time and not enough resources.”
This impacted Martin to make a bigger difference and impact. Through Frida.NFT Martin is dedicated to bringing forth a disruption that contributes to the overall welfare of the industry and the society at large.
Museums to the Metaverse
As a Mexican Native, Martin’s vision is to bring the work of Frida Kahlo into the metaverse and bring together a community of collectors, creators, and lovers.
Frida had an impactful presence in Martin’s growing up years. As he learned more about her life of pain and suffering, it impacted him to take notice of her struggles and how she conveyed these emotions through her paintings.
Martin mentions, “Frida Kahlo lived a tumultuous life to say the least, from Polio, to being told she would never walk again after a terrible bus accident, to marrying a notorious womanizer Diego Rivera, Frida painted her emotions and life until her painful death.”
He adds, “I share her feelings of pain in this material world, and yet, still not giving up helping the needy and try to fix the broken system. In my case it is the health system and the people that suffer from it.“
Through Frida.NFT, Martin hopes to share the artworks of Frida with the world, instead of holding it in his possession while making a global impact.
