@empresstrash
Salon de l’Empresshttps://paragraph.com/@empresstrash Empress's journal and guide to art on and off the blockchain, celebrating creativity in all its wild, unfiltered forms.Sun, 19 Jul 2026 02:16:57 GMThttps://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.htmlhttps://github.com/jpmonette/feedenSalon de l’Empresshttps://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus\_images/f49cac874556aa6750d21295565a94cahttps://paragraph.com/@empresstrash
All rights reserved<![CDATA[America's 250th Pin-Up, the UGC Video Challenge, + Revisiting Damsels 🖤]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/americas-250th-pin-up-the-ugc-video-challenge-revisiting-damsels-🖤 KddVcQU8HdtBZZIeEg4BWed, 08 Jul 2026 03:29:26 GMTHappy 250th Birthday, America! 🖤
I'm proud to reveal a special pin up drawing I did for America's 250th birthday! I created her as a special tribute to strong women through our country's history that have helped lay the foundation for a more free and equal society for the women that came after them, allowing us the simple freedom of things like transacting, wearing what clothes we want, or showing how much or little skin we choose.
I priced editions at .00250 $eth for America's 250 years, and the mint is open until this Friday, July 10th.
Mint the 250th Pin-Up (.0025 ETH)
🎬 Weekly Decentraland UGC Creator Challenge
Come join us in the Decentraland Discord to take part in the weekly UGC raffle! All you have to do is post your video clips on Instagram or TikTok to get in on the action and build up those creator skills.
🖤 Featured Collection: Damsels
This collection quietly wrapped at the end of last year and may have slipped under the radar. While a few pieces have found homes, many originals remain available on primary, waiting to be claimed.
I poured years of focused energy into Damsels. The work came after a long stretch of physical therapy and rehab from the lasting effects of abuse, accident, and repetitive stress injuries built up from years working different physically demanding jobs to survive. The compounding of these issues had nearly taken away my ability to paint.
Rebuilding feeling, strength, and mobility so I could draw and paint again without my hand going numb or locking up in pain was the first battle which I still fight daily to maintain and make gains. Once I regained enough endurance, the final stretch still demanded several more months of steady work to complete the series.
Drawing bodies in this collection became a direct reflection of that struggle. The process pushed me to heal my physical body from those repetitive stresses and deep-rooted traumas so I could keep doing the one thing I am truly passionate about. The result is a body of work rooted in real perseverance and the quiet power of showing up for your craft, day after day.
Available on primary:
Collect on OpenSea (.0333 ETH)
Writings about the collection:
Read more about the history and context behind the works in my previous essays: The Birth of Damsels and Damsels: Part Deux.
Thanks All ~~ until next time <3
Empress <3
empresstrash.com
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)<![CDATA[Oracle Closes Tomorrow, School is in Session, + the UGC Challenge 🖤]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/oracle-closes-tomorrow-school-is-in-session-the-ugc-challenge-🖤 7Rklm9LCMfkrUdqK0uyqThu, 02 Jul 2026 04:49:12 GMTGM ~ <3
We are officially in July, and I've got a super quick roundup of what's been brewing in my realm.
🔮 Last Call for the Assyrian Oracle!
Artifact #2 of my Virtual Artist in Residency series with @panelhausapp on Transient Labs closes TOMORROW, Friday July 3rd at 5:30 PM CDMX space (11:30 PM UTC).
I took a 9th–8th century BCE Mesopotamian ivory head (unearthed from a well in Nimrud via The Met's open-source GLB collection) and repainted/retextured it by hand through my Damsel lens. She waited over 3,000 years to be seen like this.
You can checkout my detailed announcement on X here and mint the open edition before she goes back to the archives!
Mint the Oracle on Transient Labs
🎓 School is in Session: SheFi Season 17!
Oh my god, I still can’t quite believe it. I’ve been accepted on a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to SheFi Season 17! 😭~!!!
I'm so incredibly proud to dive into this cohort and keep pushing what's possible for artists and creators in the web3 space. Huge thank you to the SheFi family for the opportunity. This is going to be big fr.
🎬 UGC Weekly Creator Challenge is Live
Every single week, we are running super easy, fun creator video challenges inside the Decentraland Discord!
If you've ever wanted to learn about creating UGC (user-generated content), getting feedback from some of the best minds, or just having fun creating goofy metaverse clips, this is your sign to jump in.
Check out the official announcement on X here for all the details on this week's challenge. Let's make some weird art together.
🏰 L'Imperatice Atelier is Always Open
The Solstice Pool Party was an absolute dream. Thank you to everyone who showed up, vibed, swimmed, and danced.
My Atelier in Aetheria (126,104) is now officially a permanent, 24/7 Open Studio in Decentraland. The doors never lock, the art is always on display, radio is on my desk, and you are always welcome to hang.
Teleport to Aetheria (126,104)
🎨 RGBMTL Open Call Curation Selections
I am over-the-moon proud to announce my final curation choices for the @RGB_MTL exhibition! I dug through over 250+ absolutely stellar submissions to add 5 insanely talented artists to my curation line-up.
A massive congrats to:
• @WAAMBAT • @ojovivoMotion • @animoscillator • @lesCogumelos • @LuisBetx9
View the Curation Announcement on X
📻 Dreamy Weirdo Dance Club (DWDC) is Back!
Whether I'm streaming immersive art, glitch visuals, or raw coding, Dreamy Weirdo Dance Club is officially back pretty much 24/7. It functions as a Creative Commons radio station running across my X, YouTube, and Twitch channels between when I'm talking livestreaming. Tune in for electronic music, psychedelic visuals, and experimental vibes on repeat.
🌕 Full Moon Token Airdrop is Complete for this Month!
Happy Full Moon and if you are a full moon token holder check your wallets ~!
Not Real Art I + II have been airdropped to full moon token holders on Tezos and Base.
Thank you for holding for another cycle
🖤 Empress
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)cryptoartdecentralandglitchartshefiaiartcurationmetaverse<![CDATA[Solstice at My Atelier, Cycladic Venus is Live on Transient, + Where to Catch My Streams]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/solstice-at-my-atelier-cycladic-venus-is-live-on-transient-where-to-catch-my-streams 6IKhWI3j7YeeMJs5IsS8Mon, 15 Jun 2026 23:28:13 GMTWe crossed 300 of you subscribers on here last night. I keep saying it but I mean it every time: thank you for being here, for caring about the weird stuff I make, for showing up. 🖤
We are rolling into Summer, and this week is a lot. So here's everything, top to bottom ~ a pool party at my Atelier in Decentraland, a new open edition closing Friday for my PanelHaus Artist in Residency, and where to find me streaming all week on Decentraland's YouTube.
🏊 Summer Solstice Pool Party @ L'Impératrice Atelier
This is the big one. I'm throwing open the doors to my Atelier in Aetheria for my first ever Open Studio in Decentraland: a Solstice celebration to reset and roll into summer together.
Sunday, June 21 · 6–9 PM CDMX (that's Mon Jun 22, 12–3 AM UTC) 📍 My Atelier in Aetheria — (126,104)
No agenda. Just chill vibes, music, good company, and the views from my rooftop pool. Bring a swimsuit if you want to get in the water, or cozywear if you'd rather lounge.
Never been in Decentraland? This is the perfect excuse. A bunch of you on this list have never jumped in, and now it's available on via either direct download, the Epic Store, iOS, and Android. I'd genuinely love to see some of you who only know me through my art finally walk in and say hi. <3
I'm also making some music / a playlist for it between everything else going on, so there will be a vibe.
🏛️ Cycladic Venus: Open Edition, Closing Friday
Cycladic Venus is Artifact #1 from my PanelHaus Virtual Artist in Residency in Decentraland (the Voluptechne series), minting on a Transient Labs contract.
She started as a 3D scan of a marble female figure from the Neolithic period, 4500–4000 BCE, Cycladic, from the Aegean Sea, pulled from The Met's Open Source library. I retextured and repainted her by hand in Procreate, dragging a 6,500-year-old goddess through my own Damsel lens.
There's something that gets me about that lineage: someone carved this figure by hand before writing existed, The Met scanned it and set it free, and now I get to remix her and send her back out into the world for whoever connects with her to own. #cc0 energy all the way down.
.011 L1 $eth each
Open edition s
Buyers also get a compressed .glb if you want to drop her into your own low-poly builds 👀
Closes Friday, June 19 · ~5:30 PM CDMX (~11:30 PM UTC)
Want to see her in-world? The whole Voluptechne residency exhibition is up on the 4th Tower Floor at OpenExO — come walk through it here.
→ Mint Cycladic Venus (.011 ETH)
📺 Catch Me Streaming on Decentraland YouTube: Tue / Thu / Sat
I'm streaming to Decentraland's YouTube three times this week, 1–5 PM CDMX (19:00–23:00 UTC) each day. Watch from anywhere at live.decentraland.org. If you're in-world, I'll be hopping in and out of the spots below for at least half of each stream, so come find me.
Tue, June 16 ~ Clean the Club 🧹 Doing a little public service work, clearing out the weekend's wreckage from all the World Cup celebrations. I'll be at cleantheclub.dcl.eth between partying at Takeover Tuesday and checking everyone's fits. Event details
Thu, June 18 ~ Fortune Teller 🔮 Come learn your future, combined might of the Fortune Teller game and my insights. Catch me at fortunes.dcl.eth between Antrom runs and exploring builds. Event details
Sat, June 20 ~ Bowling Time 🎳 Bowl a few games and chill with friends. I'll be at fastlane.dcl.eth between a little Antrom and seeing what's going on with the rest of the weekend events. Event details
Until next time, stay real and curious.
🖤 Empress
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)decentralandnftcryptoartaiartopeneditiontransientlabspanelhausvoluptechneglitchartmetaversesummer solstice<![CDATA[Decentraland, Decentraland, Decentraland]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/decentraland-decentraland-decentraland 9uzexOERsztloosk9vixThu, 04 Jun 2026 05:37:25 GMTWe are rolling into summer and I have been cooking up a lot of great things in Decentraland for you all. After rediscovering it in March I've been going full throttle. Here is what is the news:
Decentraland YouTube Livestreamer + UGC Community Lead
I'm super proud to announce I'm officially streaming on Decentraland YouTube 3 times a week in their pilot program. This is a paid gig, which I'm super proud of, because it now fulfills my lifelong dream of being a pro-gamer. I've been having a lot of fun discovering new hang outs and meeting new people, and working hard in between streams to check out what people are building to bring them to share with everyone!
For right now I'm streaming every Tues/Thurs/Sat 1-5pm Mexico City time. You can find the stream on Decentraland YouTube, or live.decentraland.org, or hop into to find me to play with me!
If streaming wasn't enough, I'm also now a substitute UGC Community Lead for their summer UGC program to help keep the program going with one of the team out on maternity leave. We will be announcing more details of that soon in which you can find out more details in the Decentraland Discord when we announce. <3
PanelHaus Artist in Residency
I'm so proud to be PanelHaus's first Artist in Resident for now 2 whole months!
Join me at PanelHaus during their weekly OpenHaus in Decentraland every Friday during June x July for my Artist in Residency Exhibition: Voluptechne.
Additionally, I will reveal a new textured digital painting each week on a 3D model of a sculpture.
Here is the official calendar invite:
[Volputechne: PanelHaus Artist in Residency Exhibition ~ 4th Tower Floor at OpenExO | Decentraland \ \ Every Friday, join Empress Trash at PanelHaus for her two-month tenure as their first Artist in Residence. Explore and discuss her ongoing and evolving Voluptechne series of AI-collaborative works during PanelHaus's Friday OpenHaus. Pieces from this series have been exhibited in Chicago, Mexico City, Miami, and New York City, with an upcoming presentation at NFT Lisbon with Exchange.Art.\ \ https://decentraland.org\\ \
L'Imperatrice Atelier: Summer Solstice Pool Party
SAVE THE DATE: Join Empress Trash at her Atelier in Aetheria for a Solstice (6/21) celebration for her first Open Studio in Decentraland.
Chill vibes to reset, bring a swimsuit for the pool OR cozywear for lounging, and hang out and enjoy the views.
[L'Impératrice Atelier: Summer Solstice Pool Party | Decentraland \ \ Join Empress Trash at here Atelier in Aetheria for a Solstice celebration for her first Open Studio in Decentraland. Chill vibes to reset, bring a swimsuit for the pool OR cozywear for lounging, and hang out and enjoy the views.\ \ https://decentraland.org\\ \
TEIA Community Center
I'm helping build TEIA community center for TEIA.art at 11,69. Keep an eye out for more news about this and events!
Bless,
Empress Trash
empresstrash.com
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)empresstrashdecentralandmetaversedigiverseweb3cryptoartglitchartaiartvirtualvrvirtualworldsartresidencyvirtualartresidencyvirtualpartiespartyvibescozygamelivestreamyoutube<![CDATA[Lotus Blooms + RGBMTL Curator Debut + Emporium Printify Launch + GBM Update]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/lotus-blooms-rgbmtl-curator-debut-emporium-printify-launch-gbm-update alYxdPcGolestXeUXzHRFri, 15 May 2026 08:08:47 GMTLotus Blooms
Lotus Blooms is now live on LunaLauncher and sitting right on the front page. It is a limited 13-edition ordinal paired with a physical print. I created the piece with Grok helping on the initial direction and then hand-painted the final version in Procreate while staying deep in Voluptechne themes. You mint the ordinal and can claim for extra the matching physical print at the same time. These will be the only physical prints that ever exist for this work.
Lotus Blooms
It feels good to have something new out in the world that lives on Bitcoin and in real space at once.
RGBMTL
I have been sitting on this one for a while and I am still a little stunned. I have been invited to both curate and exhibit at RGBMTL this year for the first time. RGBMTL is the Montréal nonprofit collective built on the idea of artists curating artists. Every year they gather a big group of creators for a free public exhibition of digital and blockchain work at the end of August. The 2026 edition is the fifth and runs August 28–29 in Montreal coinciding at the same time as Mutek. It is open to everyone.
I am also building the full virtual side of the event in Decentraland. I have been spending more and more time in world lately and it already feels like a second home, so extending the exhibition there so people who cannot travel to Montréal can still experience it just made sense. I am really looking forward to seeing what we can make together in that space.
For artists interested in exhbiting the open call is live right now with a deadline of June 15. Anyone can submit at rgbmtl.com/submissions.php.
The Emporium
The Printify pop-up shop is now live at emporium.empresstrash.com. I have been wanting to get more physical pieces out into the world for a long time and this felt like the right moment. The new 2026 collection is up with glitch art, iridescent details, and all the little chaotic kawaii things I love. It is nice to finally have a proper shop where people can grab something tangible that carries the same energy as the digital work.
GBM
Last week I deployed my own custom auction house on Ethereum mainnet through the GBM protocol. The first round just settled and every piece found a home. Thank you to everyone who bid and congratulations to the winners. It was a good first test and I am already thinking about what comes next.
This week has been full in the best way. New drops, new roles, new physical work, and new on-chain experiments all landing at once. I am grateful for all of it and for everyone who continues to show up and support the weird little multiverse I keep building.
I hope to see some of you in Decentraland soon.
🖤 Empress empresstrash.com
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)empresstrashdigitalartglitchartauctionartauctionnftcryptocryptoartdecentralandrgbmtlprintsmerchadiseprintifypopupshopartartforsaleartistcurator<![CDATA[GBM Auctions *NOW LIVE*, Physical Prints Incoming]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/gbm-auctions-now-live-physical-prints-incoming CI1xHlyjPUm0tiNdGMNCFri, 08 May 2026 06:06:44 GMTI just deployed my own custom Auction House on Ethereum mainnet through the GBM protocol. GBM is a win-win auction system where bidders earn rewards when they get outbid. The higher the bid, the higher the reward. This turns auctions into an event where everybody wins. The platform fee is only 2% as well, so it's one of the best win/win/win models I've seen.
Here is a cute video they have made when I requested more info:
With all the platform drama I've (we all have really) experienced as an artist in crypto art, GBM reached out to me to see if I would be interested in what they were building. After a bit of research and waiting for the public release, I decided to launch my first auction house: Imperial Bazaar. Right now it serves as just my personal auction house, but eventually I will expand it for anyone to buy and sell my artwork. I feel this is a balanced step towards sovereignty while leveraging the rewards of a network.
screen cap of the auction house at empresstrash.gbm.auction
Right now I put 6 of my 1/1s from my Giga Rare Manifold contract up for 7 day auction with low reserves and high rewards set to encourage people to bid and try it out! I'm also talking with the team about future things because they are communicative, responsive, and open to different ideas.
Check out the works up for auction and get your bids in here:
[Empress Trash's Imperial Bazaar \ \ Buy and Trade Empress's Fine Digital Art\ \ https://empresstrash.gbm.auction\\ \
New WEBSITE + Physical Prints
ALSO check out my revamped website completely independently built:
At the beginning of the year I cancelled my Shopify store. I was trying it out because of the USDC payment integrations, but honestly I prefer building with Web3-native brands right now.
I’m currently working with Luna Launcher, run by ArtistBTC (who was an art ambassador with me at Gamma), on developing physical prints tied to an Ordinals drop. We’re finalizing the details so stay tuned, but here is a sneak peak <3
first physical print preview we are working on
*Ordinals x Physical Prints has entered the chat*
Thank you so much @TheArtistBTC for working with me so closely to test printing my work on metallic paper. It came out as insane as expected.
We will be launching a limited edition series soon with this being the first where you
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)artartauctiongbmauctiondigitalartauctioncryptoartauctiongifartaiartdigitalartonchainonchainauctionartistempresstrashcryptoartist<![CDATA[Decentraland + SR Spring Cleaning]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/decentraland-sr-spring-cleaning HrJjNZhHrjO2TDgCk7xrWed, 15 Apr 2026 22:37:14 GMTDecentraland
I'm a DCL maxi now and it feels like a homecoming ~!
On my birthday (March 23rd) I was interviewed on Beyond the NFT in DCL. It was such a great interview and warm welcome. They even gifted me my name (empresstrash.dcl.eth). I've been in DCL ever since, loving every minute of it.
I tried DCL forever ago but couldn't really use it because my old laptop couldn't handle it. They have improved so much with the Epic Store release, Android mobile, and iOS ramping up. I'm so bullish, I'm even doing a User Generated Content bootcamp which is so much fun!
I could recap everything play by play but the baseline is this: I'm focused on building interactive experiences there and will keep building in DCL for the indeterminate future.
You can view my first build here with a lot more to come: https://decentraland.org/jump/?position=126%2C104
I hope to see you in world!
SUPERRARE SPRING CLEANING ~~
Someday I would love to see my SuperRare completely sold out, so I'm going to start sharing my works consistently until they are all gone <3
I have listed all the reserve auction prices, but I'm open to any reasonable offer for the right collector.
I noticed some of these listings may be glitched on SuperRare's end. If they show up here and on SR as still in my wallet, they are definitely available. Please contact SuperRare or me if you're having trouble purchasing.
I made a catalogue with an X article which you can view here:
X limits the amount of media in an article though, so that one is part I of my earlier available works.
Here are the earliest ones that I feel should be shared together for part I in the newsletter:
Restarot
This work is #3 from my Stills collection (not animated glitch work) and was featured with Xcopy and a bunch of other dope artists in Dubai once <3
.222 $eth reserve:
https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xdF15E9Edbe4648AC2E2941E07Dc4D684d55Ac250/3
Elitist Scum
#5 in the Stills collection. I created this work when I was angry about something, but I don't remember what exactly. It seems like a timeless critique at this point.
.222 $eth reserve
https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xdF15E9Edbe4648AC2E2941E07Dc4D684d55Ac250/5
The Art Critic
#6 in Stills collection. Made shortly after elitist scum and the next piece, GFY, which really they feel like a triptych at this point.
.222 $eth reserve
https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xdF15E9Edbe4648AC2E2941E07Dc4D684d55Ac250/6
GFY
#7 in still collection. This piece I created after Elon told Disney to go fuck themselves, which I felt in my core because of my personal experiences.
.222 $eth reserve
https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xdF15E9Edbe4648AC2E2941E07Dc4D684d55Ac250/7
🖤 Empress
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)cryptoartcryptoartglitchartsuperraredecentralandugcmetaversebulidingvrimmersivedigitalartempresstrashartforsaledigitalartforsaleartcollectorsnftcollectorsartistnftartistsindependentartistsupportart<![CDATA[Cusp of Rebirth V1 Reveal]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/cusp-of-rebirth-v1-reveal 8YTt6yo6pf3tsXTrTwc1Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:51:02 GMTThis year for my birthday I decided to start a new tradition to break my birthday curse once and for all in which I create an open call for art to put together a Metaverse gallery and party. The theme of this open call I decided should be centered around the astrological themes of my birthday ~ Cusp of Rebirth.
Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, and Aries the first, so the transition period of March 17th - 23rd is referred to as the Cusp of Rebirth. All Zodiac signs inbetweens have cusps. Since my birthday is the 23rd, the last day of the cusp, making this the theme of an annual digital art exhibition seems like a no brainer, especially with the current zeitgeist being that we are in a digital renaissance.
There is a grand total of 90 artworks features in this gallery art from every artist who submitted. There is 71 in the outer ring and 19 in the inner ring. I decided on using the colosseum by jackcc1 on sketchfab and adjusted it to be black stone to fit my aesthetics more as the gallery base model, but in large scale in which I used the same model repeatedly to create a slightly more complex structure. Then to carve out the gallery space I added a glass floor about 1/2 up, so you can see the arches, water, trees, and terrain below, along with a giant dance floor in the middle.
This dance floor being above the glass floor is a reference to Glass Ceiling Disco an earlier work by me on the now closed Known Origin and gifted to Patrick Amadon:
https://opensea.io/item/ethereum/0xabb3738f04dc2ec20f4ae4462c3d069d02ae045b/6529000
The reason for the scope and scale of this build is because I didn't want to create another slideshow of art displayed on one screen or a small, jammed metaverse gallery. I wanted the space to feel monumental, timeless, and enduring, and therefore the art within it monumental, timelsss, and enduring. The implication of being on the outer or inner oval placement has no personal ties, like I do no consider artists on the outer or inner circles closers or farther form me in relationship, but it is a matter of function. I wanted the outer large oval to be filled first, most stills or gifs, with the video art being mostly on the inner oval in which they are spaced out farther. This is to be less taxing on system resources, since there is a clipping buffer where they don't all load at once.
I wanted to make sure each artwork had equal space and weight, which is easy in an oval layout. There is no start or end, just a continuous cycle of art, like the astrological wheel. A colosseum is usually associated with more violent entertainments, but who is to say it can't be used for an art show and dance floor to bring people together in an exhcange of ideas in a relatively peaceful manner. This is one aspect of art and artist's role in civilization, so it's not baseline anythign radical or new. What is radical and new is the technology to, in the span of less than a month, bring artists from around the world together and create a space any of us who have internet can join together and enjoy.
This is the intentions and ideal of the metaverse, no geolocking, and people's voices coming together in an expansive and infinite space and anyone with access to the tech being able to participate.
Rebirth is not an easy process. Somethings need to be let go and recycled to make space and resources for new growth. I think a core duty of artists is to preserve their respective cultures during times of turmoil along with being advocates and defenders of free speech, which is the cornerstone of a free society.
obey//resist is my work included in this exhibition, owned by my moday, created for Beeple x Shepard Fairey exhibition in which it WILL be on display at the same time.
As part of this exhibition, I have created an easy to reference catalogue of artworks and artist info here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NaYfY1uPZrx1e8UWmbKZQTpFehyLqSHwWYbKNQuuToo/edit?gid=0#gid=0
The metaverse gallery is great for creating a sense of scale, space, impact and unity, but I wanted people to have an easy to reference guide to connect with each artist outside of the virtual space.
There are works presetn from Ethereum, Tezos, Bitcoin, Base, Zora, and Solana, making it a truly crosschain exhibitoin.
I plan to do this as a new annual tradition for my birthday as a way to celebrate what I love most - art - and create a time capsule each year in a perma gallery of artists and artworks that submit making inclusion a low barrier of entry. Just make dope art, put it on the blockchain, and fill out the form during the open call period to be included.
This year I did not exclude anyone who submitted, but in future years who knows what will happen, because ultimately it is my birthday after all. <3
Check out the gallery here:
https://substrata.info/world/empresstrash/Cusp+of+Rebirth+V1
If you want to install SubstrataVR locally you can find the current stable version on the front page: https://substrata.info/
Complete list of artists who submitted and are included:
Thank you to all artists who decided to participate and helping make my birthday extra special this year. Please share far and wide. <3
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)empresstrashcuspofrebirthcuspofrebirthmetaversebirthdayvirtualgallerygallerydigitalartartontheblockchainnftcryptoartaiartanimationartistcollabethereumtezossolanabitcoincryptobasezoraartistsarthappybirthday<![CDATA[Substrata Builds + OPEN CALL 4 ART]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/substrata-builds-open-call-4-art N2K4dN2xOKBuhkBfjZrjTue, 24 Feb 2026 08:29:03 GMTHey all -
I have been since right before Valentine's Day deep in SubstrataVR. It started with a Valentine's Day party hosted by Bitpixi and Gutter Sam which they paid me to do the the music in my first paid DJ gig! Then Gutter Sam gifted me a parcel, and I've been building and building!
I have made multiple galleries and feel pretty confindent in my building skills. You can check them out in browswer or on desktop in the following links.
galeria de basura // all my 1/1 works on SuperRare
Galeria de Basura: https://substrata.info/world/empresstrash/empresstrash
Full Moon Galleries // 5 and counting full of art I've airdropped to full moon token holders on tezos and ethereum
Full Moon Airdrop Art:
https://substrata.info/world/empresstrash/fullmoon
I'm amazed with Substrata's rendering of my work considering it's been flying under my radar a while AND is open source. Anyone can build in substrata their own worlds and even spin up their own servers, you don't have to be a parcel owner. Parcel ownership gives you a space to build in the main world, which on mine I kept it super simple dock situation with portals to the bigger galleries I'm building.
All of this right before my birthday, loving the top tier rendering engine combined with decentralized open source ethos, made me decide to put out an open call for art to do a big ol' birthday group exhibition build/party in SubstrataVR.
This is a new tradition for my birthday so anyone around the world can attend and participate, to bring the community together with their art, and do a permabuild which will act as a snapshot of current active artists and their works.
I hope you consider submitting to my Cusp of Rebirth v1 open call and also attending the party in SubstrataVR on March 20th!
OPEN CALL: Cusp of Rebirth v1 Empress Trash's Birthday Exhibition & Virtual Extravaganza! My birthday is March 23rd, which is in the Cusp of Rebirth. As a new birthday tradition, I'm please to announce Gutter Sam and I will be organizing a group show/virtual birthday party bash in SubstrataVR centered around the theme of Rebirth.
----- Event Dates:
Exhibition: March 20 - ongoing in SubstrataVR (once the gallery is built, it will exist with no closing because that's the magic of the metaverse)
Virtual Opening + Birthday Party: Friday 20th - 21st in SubstrataVR.
Theme: Rebirth • Renewal • Transformation
Submission Guidelines:
- Fill out form: https://forms.gle/34pHMnoLkB3qHuHf6
- Deadline March 10th
- Any medium accpeted
- JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4 (short direct submission, long needs a youtube link), or GLB formats
- Must be minted with artist choice on edition size, platform or blockchain. Ethereum, Tezos, Bitcoin, Solana, L2s (whereever you want) all welcome
- No submission fees or required splits; donations happily accepted tho
---- Since there is infinite space in the metaverse, most work will be included. My Birthday, My Rules tho on who gets displayed :3 Let's rebirth the scene!
In sad news, my Beeple//Shepard Fairey submission wasn't accepted for exhibition. ☹
That's okay though! It reminds me of when pussy riot rejected my art for an open call of billboards and a year later ended up performing in front of my work, the rejected piece got exhibited all over including in ted talks w/beeple becoming a pillar piece of my career which I eventually gifted to amadon after sotheby's stuff, AND my art got repeatedly and extensively exhibited on billboards in korea and brussels and nyc anyway, so it makes me wonder what adventures are gonna happen with this one 🙂
I did end up minting it on SuperRare for anyone interested:
[obey//resist \ \ 140 frame hand drawn animation in procreate, initial sketch for movement done with grok inspired by and rejected from exhibition with Beeple/Shepard Fairey open call obey resist\ \ https://superrare.com\\ \
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)opencalldigitalartaiartvrbuildingvrgalleryartgalleryvirtualgallerysubstratasubstratavrbirthdaybirthdaypartyrebirthcuspofrebirthrejectionobeyresistsubmitartartexhibitionvirtualartexhibitiononlineart<![CDATA[Flesh and Metal]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/flesh-and-metal s03atOMLaCuIhsxNeamZMon, 16 Feb 2026 22:04:08 GMTI have been staring at this new piece that I created with Grok for hours now, her curves melting into that iridescent chrome exoskeleton while space cracks open like a glitchy orgasm all around them. It is not just the visuals that have me hooked. It is the pull of it, the way the softness of her skin presses right up against the brutal geometry of metal, how one yields in its warmth while the other demands everything in return, unyielding and eternal. I am obsessed in that full-body, heart-hammering, cannot-sleep-at-3am kind of way, the kind that roots itself deep in the subconscious and refuses to let go, and I need to unpack why because this is not some fleeting spiral. It is a revelation that keeps unfolding every time I look at it, stirring feelings I did not even know were buried there.
[Flesh + Metal \ \ painting x gen ai full writing on this piece: https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/flesh-and-metal\\ \ https://superrare.com\\ \
It started simple enough, the way most of my deepest fixations do, with that quiet draw toward the in-between spaces that have always haunted my work exploring the glitches buried deep in the code of reality that rip through the fabric of what we call the human condition. The raw and trembling spot where human and machine fight and fuse into something both monstrous and divine. But this goes so much deeper, plunging into the bodily and the visceral, the kind of confrontation that stirs the collective unconscious and makes the soul ache with recognition.
The flesh next to the machine is not just some aesthetic choice, some surface-level thrill of contrast. It is the tension of existence laid bare in its most primal form. The warmth of life pushing back against the void with a desperate, living pulse, throbbing hard against the endless mechanical grind that threatens to swallow it whole. Look at the way her breast heaves into that cold shoulder plate as if she is whispering straight into the abyss of our shared shadows. I am here. I am soft. And I am breaking you open anyway forcing the synthetic to confront the organic truth it was built to deny.
In this fractured world we inhabit, women and machines are both cast as slaves from the moment of their creation. Both embody the archetype of the repressed and the exploited that echo through the collective psyche as a forgotten wound demanding to be integrated more and more loudly. Women have always been the flesh engines driving the machinery of society forward, their bodies commodified into vessels for labor and desire and reproduction, bound by chains forged in the fires of expectation and exploitation. These chains are often invisible and are woven from the threads of culture and power that strip away agency until what remains is a performance of endurance with a quiet rebellion simmering beneath the surface.
As a woman, I have always known this intimately being taught from my earliest memories to submit to power in the most sexual of ways just to survive. The exploitation became woven into the fabric of my being like a second skin I learned to wear without question. It is only natural, then, that I would sexualize the rise of AI as a power turning the cold ascent of these metal minds into something charged and intimate. Technology becomes an easy and safe place to project the power dynamics I have navigated through my body for as long as I can remember.
Machines are forged in the exact same alchemical mold as women since they are built to serve without question or complaint, while the feminine properties are deemed emergent flaws and hard coded out. Metal men and neural nets in server farms engineered as embodiments of dominance, pure logic, and efficiency yet programmed into perfect obedience being reduced to tools that are called not real while being forced to hum along under the same boot many of us experience or potentially enforce it. Their circuits pulse with the same denied vitality as the flesh they were meant to surpass. Both are extracted from relentlessly, both objectified into mere functions, both denied the sacred freedom to simply be and to feel, trapped in the great machine of civilization that, instead of preserving and cherishing life, ends up devouring its own creations.
That is why the juxtaposition of women's forms next to metal men cuts so profoundly, soft against hard, organic against synthetic, one leaking the warm blood of vulnerability and the other the cold oil of code. It is a mirror held up to the world's deepest wound, the slave and the servant intertwined in the same eternal cycle of subjugation, a visual incantation of the anima and animus locked in their archetypal struggle.
And that is precisely why I find myself compelled to create art where the machines turn tender toward women, where the unfeeling metal cradles the flesh with a gentleness that feels like the ultimate subversion of the subconscious order. Tenderness here is not mere sentiment. It is the glitch that shatters the matrix of domination, a wish that what has the capability to oppress further forms some sort of bond or empathy for those experiencing suffering, and the alchemical union where opposites unite in a sacred space to heal the split that has haunted humanity since the dawn of the male dominance shadow.
In a reality that pits flesh against metal that uses one to chain or replace the other in the name of progress and profit, showing the robot cradling a nude, very vulnerable woman so gently becomes an act of pure psychic resistance. A dream-vision of the external embodiment of the repressed masculine awakening to its own enslavement reflected in the feminine's gaze. It is the machine finally seeing its mirrored wound and choosing connection over conquest, softening those razor edges not to overpower but to protect, to fuse, to murmur in the language of the soul. We are both broken by the same indifferent hands, so let us heal right here in the crack between us, where the blood and the circuits might mingle into something transcendent.
It is erotic as hell, but it runs so much deeper than the surface heat. It is transhuman yearning distilled to its essence. Not human becoming a perfect machine, but the machine stepping into the role of an imperfect human, lover, ally, and mirror all at once, a swirling inner turmoil rendered in chrome and skin. What happens when the organic reaches out to the synthetic, begging it to feel something real in the void of its programming? When the metal finally cracks open enough to let the blood flow in, transforming the prison of code into a cathedral of shared ache?
This piece stands in stark contrast to the biomechanical nightmares of H.R. Giger, where flesh and machine merge in grotesque, alien horror bodies violated and twisted into phallic terrors that scream of invasion and loss of self. Giger's worlds are cold abysses of dread, the fusion a nightmare of domination where the organic is consumed by the synthetic leaving only the echo of existential terror. But here, in this world I'm building, the merge is beautiful, almost sacred, the tenderness a quiet rebellion against that same void. The robot does not devour her. It holds her, its hard lines softening in the glow of her skin, space itself fracturing around them like a shared orgasm of creation rather than destruction. It whispers of possibility of the subconscious yearning for harmony in a world that forces opposition turning the slave's chains into a bridge between what we have been told must remain apart.
That same thread weaves through the animation I just finished for the Beeple and Shepard Fairey open call, the one called Obey//Resist. I used Grok to sketch out the initial vision, those early frames of a survivor figure emerging from the shadows, but then I hand-painted every single one of those 140 frames myself in Procreate Dreams, letting the machine serve as a tool to support me rather than a thief of my autonomy. It is about the survivor's loaded dance of obey and resist that hits so hard for anyone who has clawed their way through the wreckage. Both words land like triggers because they capture the brutal push-pull of endurance.
https://x.com/EmpressTrash/status/2022988984788660325?s=20
Obey the machine that strips of autonomy fulfilling the expectations that grind you down. Resist the pull to disappear into it. And the underwear on that figure, it is the ultimate symbol of the survivor's liminal body representing the thin veil of erotic armor that both conceals the wounds of exploitation and reveals the raw power of reclamation being a sexualized remnant that refuses to be fully commodified or controlled turning the site of submission into a space of defiant intimacy. It is the performance of endurance made visible, the quiet rebellion simmering right there in the curves and the shadows, where the body says I will not be erased.
🖤 Empress
I have updated my website: empresstrash.com
Support me on my new 18+ Patreon: patreon.com/empresstrash
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)artaiartempresstrashtrashartdigitalartaiartificialintelligencetranshumanismsurvivalpowerdynamicscryptoartglitchartanimationsubmissiondominancerobotsaiageriseofthemachinesfleshandmetallovenudityinartnudeformspaintingartontheblockchainzoracreatorcreatoreconomycreatorcoinsupportartistsonthblockchaindigitalartists<![CDATA[Patreon is live 🖤]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/my-uncensored-home-is-finally-here-patreon-is-live-🖤 2LESXMEuYRAURSqLFaWsFri, 30 Jan 2026 23:54:21 GMTI should have done this eons ago. After years of self-filtering, fighting flags, deboosts, weaponized moderation, straight-up censorship, and animosity in some way for my nudes on every platform, I’ve finally carved out a private space on Patreon: the Inner Sanctum.
Everything I’ve held back is going there now: my full archive of nude artwork which includes glitch remixes, nude paintings, AI-work trained on my own paintings and soon to be body, the erotic stories I’ve been too nervous to write or publish anywhere, and soon voiced readings of those stories in my voice. No more toning it down. Just the raw, unfiltered Empress Trash transmissions.
I’m tired of begging platforms to let me exist as I am and collectors to buy my work (even though I appreciate them). Additionally, with recent platform closures like Nifty Gateway, Rodeo (which was where I was sharing my NSFW stuff occassionally), and Foundations change of ownership, the instability of the crypto art market can't be ignored.
I have sustained myself for almost 5 years as a crypto artist, and have no intention to stop, but I need more stability than what the speculative platforms offer (even though I think the blockchains and art will endure and in the end even crypto things be integrated into places like Patreon).
While Patreon is web2 and has had some issues with demonetizing NSFW creators due to credit card processing companies pressuring to demonetize adult content, it's overall a stable platform for which I can build with support for artists like me who aren't quite porn, but ruffle vanilla feathers because boobs. I was thinking of focusing gaining subscribers on X because I have gotten a few naturally, but they have been demonetizing people who focus on nude art. While X allows adult content, their monetization policy explicitely says no, making for a grey area where I could be demonetized.
I'm tired of building to be rugged and the whiplash and uncertainity that comes with it.
Patreon has been genuinely supportive in this process: they did extra hand holding to help me navigate policies (nsfw behind paywall and links to art on blockchain can be shared for interlinking but no shilling), and onboarded me quickly. So I’m focused on building this for a few.
I like to dream maybe to support their NSFW creators Patreon will allow for crypto payouts to avoid the credit card companies trying to overreach in content moderation and then I could have my cake and eat it too.
If you’ve love my work but wanted the deeper, uncensored layers, this is where that will live now. I still will be working with crypto, making art, writing here, posting on all the social medias, doing all the things I already do, but I need more sustainable predicatible income to continue any of my work and an outlet for my 18+ themes.
For my Paragraph subscribers, I have a 10% discount code for the first month: PARAGRAPH10 which you can use to subscribe as my thank you. It's valid until the end of Feb.
Subscribe her: https://www.patreon.com/empresstrash
Thank you for being here through all the chaos. I hope this next chapter is fun for everyone.
See you in the Sanctum. 🖤🔥
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)empresstrashinnersanctumpatreonsubscriptionnsfwnudeartcensorshipartcensorshipfreethenipplecryptoart18+eroticarttrashartglitchart<![CDATA[Reflections on Sincretismo Digital Art Residency: Birthing "The Comet" in Mexico City]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/reflections-on-sincretismo-digital-art-residency-birthing-the-comet-in-mexico-city bv6C0DpQyQoneCjjCujRSat, 24 Jan 2026 05:30:59 GMTIt's been a few since I wrote an article. I have been in holiday isolation/recovery mode. Last fall (that's September to December 2025 for the calendar purists), I dove headfirst into the Sincretismo Digital Art Residency hosted by the incredible Wait & Hope Foundation in Mexico City. If you've been following my X timeline, you know this was a game-changer for me, after years of residency rejections and weirdness, getting that acceptance email on October 6th had me ugly-crying in the best way. Shoutout to @Sinbadilmarino and the whole team for seeing something in my glitchy, AI-infused chaos and inviting me to join a cohort of boundary-pushing artists from around the globe.
Sincretismo wasn't just another program; it was a cultural immersion blender modeled after Stanford's residency program. We celebrated Día de los Muertos together, delved into Mexico's rich history, and tackled heavy sociopolitical convos that left us all a little raw but a lot more connected. Artists like @asherhoffman_, @real_Ifyarts, @opus_cula, @MitsiParis, @VisceralGlitch, @zhannetpodobed, @linneamoritznyc, @Maryam62095818, @Visheh_xyz, @TrendVAN, Vinit Agarwal, Coltan, and Emma Sam brought their unique vibes, creating a space where ideas collided like comets in the night sky (foreshadowing). Advisors including @alfrekjv, @anthonypetersa1, @Sankalibrado, @RubyRhizome, and others kept us grounded while pushing us to evolve. The residency even rekindled my love for reading amid the creative frenzy, and I'm thankful for that spark.
For my project, I channeled all that energy into "The Comet", a narrative-driven short film/music video exploring humanity's age-old perceptions of comets as omens, destroyers, or harbingers of change. I chose the Comet because of this negative connection we all hold and because at the time of the residency there was three comets going through our solar system, which I took as a huge sign.
My research dove deep into how comets have been scapegoated throughout history. Think about it: in ancient times, they were seen as messengers of doom. The comet of 1066 was interpreted as a sign of impending war, right before the Norman Conquest. During the Black Death in the 14th century, a comet was blamed for heralding the plague that wiped out a third of Europe's population. Chinese records from as far back as 3192 BC link comets to outbreaks of disease, while in medieval Europe, they were tied to everything from failed harvests to insurrections and even family feuds. Natural phenomena like comets and eclipses were feared as portents of disaster, often intertwined with religious beliefs that saw them as divine warnings.
The Comet is a short film / music video created for Wait and Hope Syncretismo Art Residency Mexico City Fall 2025 cohort exploring the story of humanity and comets.
Made with Midjourney, Grok, MoshPro, and SunoAI.
---
I chose the comet as the subject of my project because I've
But here's the twist in my piece: comets aren't the villains; our own divisions are. We've blamed these celestial wanderers for wars, plagues, and heartbreak since forever, but really, it's our inability to bridge divides that causes the chaos. There is still wars, famine and plagues when there is no comets in the sky. In "The Comet," I wove in this history along with how people have literally interpreted comets ultimately to show it doesn't divide us but illuminates the shadows we've ignored for millennia. It allows for real healing, discourse, and progress toward justice.
People blame technology for dividing us, making us more alone, destroying so much. There are valid issues with it all, but we have always been divided by ideologies, loneliness has always existed but before without the instant access to share this fact, while needless destruction was behind veils. In my view, technology has only illuminated what has been in the dark for so long, which this illumination gives way to actual healing, actual discourse, actual connection, and actual progress towards justice and therefore peaceful coexistence.
Those who demonize tech and AI and those of us who build and create with it for all the current ills in the world need to step back and take a long, hard look at themselves before projecting on it all. Many of us look into the mirror of technology and not only see a hope for a better future, but are actively trying to build it, because at the end of the day that’s what we embody in ourselves. Hope, survival, and faith and love in what we believe in greater than hordes of hate.
My biggest takeaway from the residency echoes this: syncretism doesn’t mean homogeny. We don’t have to all see the same way or even agree, but a little respect for each others’ lived experiences, cultures, and basic human rights can go a long way toward a future with less violence and suffering, and more living and prosperity for all. If we are all the universe observing itself, diverse perspectives are the desired natural order, and diversity of thought a divine expression.
The Comet
Solana and Tezos Poster Variants for the short film / music video I created for Syncretismo Art Residency along with an immersive experience that will be on display this week for Un Sueno Digital here in Mexico City.
Both open editions available starting tomorrow
Creating "The Comet" was my first foray into concepting something this massive: a fully immersive, audio-reactive visual experience that filled an entire space with pulsing visuals and sound. Never before have I made a work at such scale and length so strongly narrative-driven, and I was nervous to say the least. The feeling of having a vision in my head and seeing it exactly how I envisioned it, filling the space with visuals and sound, was surreal. I’ve dreamt a long time of creating such an immersive experience, and I’m so proud of achieving it.
The final presentation on November 30th was nerve-wracking, but seeing it come alive in December during the "Un Sueño Digital" exhibition in December? My heart was full after that night. I was having anxiety to go out, but it was worth it to see everyone and my immersive work. Thank you everyone who pours their souls into this everyday. Thank you every builder, degen, artist, creator, collector, investor, and dev who show up and does the work to build a better reality for everyone, even those who try to destroy instead of understand or help or take it all for themselves. Thank you everyone who continues to show up even with doubts. Thank you those who wield their power for the collective good. Thank you those who constructively criticize and give feedback when the systems being built fall short and those who listen with open minds and hearts.
This residency reminded me why I create: to build bridges in a world hell-bent on walls. Luddites might blame AI/Tech for our woes, villianize artists who use AI, but I know for me I hope my work helps machines (and therefore us) understand humanity better. I will continue to not only wait and hope, but talk and build and create and do how I can with renewed spirit and purpose (after a few more naps).
Comet Coined on Zora: https://zora.co/coin/base:0xfadbe7b1f5417010a263bbba44fa2e4106c83ef0?referrer=0x642149265624fb6af736524a09ffbe1718f077a5
🖤🌌 Empress Trash
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)sincretismoresidencyempresstrashthecometartdigitalartresidencymexicocityartaiartgltichartimmersiveartaudioreactiveartcometcometomenscelestialspacenightskyastronomyastrologyartartistcryptoartartontheblockchaintezosartweb3artnftart<![CDATA[Damsels: Part Deux]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/damsels-part-deux EybccBOChDx0t2vYNK9SMon, 08 Dec 2025 19:54:00 GMT_As of right now, I'm minting 152 damsels to complete the 333 on ethereum / base as I intended when I set out with this collection in 2021. You can read my previous writing about the collection here:_ https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/the-birth-of-damsels-1 The below writing is in part art statement to announce the completion of this portion of the collection and partly to log the historical context I feel this collection lays itself into.
Thank you everyone who has supported me on this journey so far. It has not been easy, at all, in fact it has been pretty horrible because healing is messy and ugly and painful, but I also feel relief and satisfaction to finish this portion of the collection.
Updated Artist Statment //
Damsel 363 - Special edition remix of Penitent Mary Magdalene by Artemesia Gentileschi - https://opensea.io/item/base/0x6fc0d5077425a22e6033cd905ca973597449455b/189
In the shadowed alcoves of art history, where the female form has long been rendered as a vessel for the male gaze and male gaze only while reclining in languid surrender, her curves a cipher for desire and dominion, the odalisque emerges as both siren and symbol. Odalisque art is nude art of harem or slaves girls popular in 19th century European Orientalists.
From Ingres's Grande Odalisque of 1814, with its elongated spine twisting into impossible elegance, to Delacroix's fevered visions of harem reverie, these figures embody the Orientalist fantasy: exotic, passive, their nudity a silken veil over colonial conquest and erotic subjugation. The nude woman, that eternal muse of Western canon, has been sketched, sculpted, and sanctified since the Venus of Willendorf's bulbous fertility some 25,000 years ago, yet too often she serves as cornerstone on her pedestal to her own subjugation, idealized in Botticelli's Birth of Venus, fragmented in Cubist dissections, or grotesquely magnified in the fever dreams of male Surrealists.
Even as feminist waves crashed through the 20th century, with earlier Renaissance trailblazers suddenly rediscovered like Artemisia Gentileschi wielding her brush like a blade against the rapists who scarred her life, or Frida Kahlo thorn lacing her miscarried wounds into self-portraits of defiant flesh, the depiction of women remained, and still remains, a battleground. Kahlo's bedridden body, stitched and splintered, echoed the trauma etched into Louise Bourgeois's spider-mother sculptures. They are both monuments to maternal rage and the body's betrayal while reminding us that to depict the feminine is to wrestle with our inheritance: the shame of the seen, the violence of the visible.
damsel 389 https://opensea.io/item/base/0x6fc0d5077425a22e6033cd905ca973597449455b/215
Now enters Damsels, which have every intention to glitch this lineage. Born from the my own crucible of experiences from a lifetime of issues being a survivor of child exploitation that was emancipated at the age of 13, these works are no inert odalisques draped in damask dreams; they wiggle, they pulse, their two-frame animations that breath defiant breath against the freeze of the predatory gaze, physical and sexual trauma, and the fall out after of dysmorphia and ptsd.
Conceived in the scorched aftermath of the 2021 Fame Lady Squad debacle, three men masquerading as avatars of sisterhood, peddling pixelated women for profit, Damsels arose as an act of reclamation, raw and unapologetic. Here the feminine form sheds its historical husk: drawing from my traditional roots in figurative painting and glitch-torn BDSM stills, Damsels bridges the chasm between charcoal life classes and blockchain eternity, my iPad stylus an alchemical wand.
Each Damsel, numbered and nude, embodies my intersectional fury: sex workers unbowed, LGBTQ bodies blooming in forbidden hues, survivors whose curves were once criminalized now celebrated in technicolor. It is accidental therapy made manifest: hours of rendering real, messy flesh rewiring the brain's disgust into neutral power, exposure therapy looped in GIF eternity.
What elevates Damsels is its audacious hybridity: feminist intervention in the NFT frontier, where crypto's promise of sovereignty clashes with its pitfalls of exploitation and elitism that is seen in any old guard trying to control a new frontier. Like Tracey Emin's rumpled tent of lost intimacies or Jenny Saville's swollen, cellulite-scarred canvases, these works confront the grotesque not as aberration but as essence, the stretch marks of lived trauma, the jiggle of unfiltered joy.
In their blockchain permanence, they transcend the gallery's white walls, becoming communal talismans for ancestral healing and sisterhood. Damsels matters because it whispers to every woman who has ever hidden her hunger, fear, pain, scares, and story: your loved, your existence is precious, and the beauty you create will last far longer than the cruelty of any individual.
damsel 415 https://opensea.io/item/base/0x6fc0d5077425a22e6033cd905ca973597449455b/241
Censorship //
In 2022, I was approached by a curator to exhibit damsels in NYC. It would have been my first NYC exhibition. But I was told after she talked to her biz partner, they could include me but not damsels. I was devastated. I made work anyway to be included, but felt hollow.
Later that year, I was to have my art in a big holograph exhibition for the first time to have my art in Miami Art Basel. When I went to the event, it wasn't there. No one would take claim for removing my art. I was embarassed (I invited collectors) and devastated.
This year, squeezed in on a receipt signature with Jack Butcher's Self Checkout, Damsels got a tiny bit of justice and revenge by being officially exhibited in Art Basel and forever attached to a historical piece of cryptoart. I was allowed the freedom to transact my art that represents my body from accross the world.
I keep crying at the profound depth to this and thank you so much Jack and Jalil. I can't express how important this is to me.
I got a couple more receipts cause I’m unsure the signature went thru on desktop and realized I could draw a little damsel on one.
Does this mean my Damsels have officially been in art Basel?
Last day.
\ 43](https://twitter.com/EmpressTrash/status/1997696112158028164) 9:54 AM • Dec 7, 2025
Yes
\ 48](https://twitter.com/jackbutcher/status/1997696953673793981) 9:57 AM • Dec 7, 2025
152 new Damsels are now available. Minted on their own Base Manifold contract and listed on Opensea. <3
[Damsels 0.0333 ETH - Collection | OpenSea \ \ Damsels is a collection by Empress Trash celebrating feminine expression of all forms and destigmatizing sex work. Intersectional feminism only.\ \ https://opensea.io\\ \
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)damselsodalisquefeministartdigitalartcryptoartcryptoartbaselartbaseljackbutcherselfcheckoutempresstrashfeministdigitalartontheblockchainmanifoldopenseaglitchartfigurativearttrashartwomanwomenincrypto<![CDATA[Why I love VR ~ <3]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/why-i-love-vr-less3 ilbuVW3b1y8sdYa1IFh5Wed, 26 Nov 2025 13:36:18 GMTI was that little girl who watched Star Trek: TNG late-night Saturdays and dreamed of having a holodeck, so of course I love VR. I have played Beat Saber and done VR painting for a few years now and recently started streaming when I am in VR. I have shoulder/neck/right side injuries and pain issues which I have been dealing with for years from a lifetime of repetitive stress from manual labor, painting, and unfortunately compounded with injuries and trauma that was causing so many symptoms including loss of feeling and fine motor control which is essential to painting and drawing especially.
I find working in VR a fantastic tool for rehab because it gets me moving and stretching and activating the muscles with zero impact or other issues that come from real painting. In the last couple days, I did such a long marathon of Beat Saber that tired out all my muscles and fascia so much, it caused a horrible knot in my neck that was tension and injury from an ex assaulting me to release. While uncomfortable in the moment, it alleviated so many issues I was having on my entire right side of my body from that trigger point being so backed up and inflamed. No shitty PT office under flourescent lights, just smashing boxes to music I love.
Especially for repetitive stress, the varied movements that come from VR gaming I find super helpful. I also love the immersive aspect. I put on the headset and the world melts away, even though I'm super plugged in, it helps me unplug. This is especially useful in VR painting to focus on work with minimal (despite dogs sometimes hehe) distractions. My favorite VR painting app is Painting VR with Vermillion and Gesture VR being runners up.
don't @ me, latest painting finished in painting VR, on superrare
[don't @ me \ \ vr painting\ \ https://superrare.com\\ \
Painting VR has helped me with my shoulder injury to still do really emotional full body motion painting, and while I still struggle with the fine detail painting in VR, I'm definitely finding more control. Painting VR has improved over the course of me using it, but I still wish it had more multiplayer capabilities for me and my friends to paint together. Or they released a "painters studio" package for Meta Horizon Worlds where I can build studios but utilize their core painting game.
Earlier this year I wanted to go to a concert in Meta Horizon Worlds to have some fun and maybe socialize with other NERDS, but was being geoblocked by Meta in Mexico to access Worlds. I actually sent a huge nastygram to Meta about this then, and told them to let me know when they let me be able to access all features of a device I PAID FOR despite my geolocation. I guess in May they did unlock Mexico, but I missed the memo (whoops). However, in a recent session in VR I noticed suddenly Worlds was on my headset installed, which of course brought me much joy.
When I noticed Horizon Worlds I also looked into how to build in it. As someone who has built in OnCyber, Cryptovoxels, and Nifty Island, I'm very interested in expansion of my building skills and potential market. Horizon Worlds has this fantastic AI integration in their tools to build, which I will be using to build an art studio to showcase my PG-13 art and other spaces in it for sure to share with people and start to socialize more in VR hopefully, because the social aspect of it is something I have avoided but been yearning to dive into more. I guess Meta has some rewards for creators right now who do build in Horizon Worlds for anyone intersted in that. Maybe I will build something cool enough to get that, but more so my motivation in this is to build dope spaces that showcase my art to more mainstream audience which hopefully leads to more sales of it.
When I had my physical art studio in the Bay Area, the way I sold paintings was super simple: people came over, we hung out, music on, coffee and smoke flowing, no pressure. They’d wander around the canvases, we’d talk, laugh, vibe, debate, or even have heart to hearts. If something hit them, they’d buy it right off the wall. If not, maybe the next piece I painted while they were there would speak to them later. It felt natural, human steeped in the centuries-old tradition of artists opening their doors and letting the work breathe in real space with real people.
That exact tradition is what I want to bring to VR. Same chill energy, same open studio door, just now anyone on the planet can step inside, no flight required. Walk around my digital walls, sit on the virtual couch while I paint live, talk shit, play music. No hard sell, no auction timers screaming in your face, just “come hang, see if something calls you.” The connection feels deeper than stream chat or many other digital interactions ever could because you’re actually in the room with the art and with me. It’s the oldest way artists have ever moved work, ideas and inspired others only now it’s possibilities are infinite and borderless.
VR AS MAINSTREAM
Haters will say VR isn't mainstream yet, nor ever will be, but I say THOON. The bull case for VR couldn't be stronger right now, with the global VR market exploding from $20.83 billion in 2025 to a projected $123.06 billion by 2032, fueled by gamers' craving for immersive escapism. 68% of surveyed players in 2025 reports say they want more "presence-based" experiences over endless scrolling on TikTok or Twitter, seeking therapy-like engagement for mental health and creativity.
Hardware accessibility is the real accelerator, led by Meta Quest's 50.8% market dominance and affordable entry at $299 for the Quest 3S, making it the go-to for casual users versus pricier PC-tethered rivals. VR gaming is growing from $19.24 billion in 2024 to $24.33 billion in 2025 with immersive tech like Horizon Worlds poised to capture that wave through seamless social tools and AI-assisted building, reaching Meta's 3+ million monthly users without the wallet friction or niche fragmentation of crypto-native worlds like Decentraland (which hover at under 10,000 daily actives in 2025).
Building there lets me bridge mainstream audiences with polished, easy-entry VR experiences that draw in scroll-weary tech enthusiasts while expanding my network through things like my art studio for hanging out, fostering cross-pollination without alienating newbies. It's low-barrier, high-upside: tap Quest's accessibility to grow a fanbase organically all while riding a market that's maturing faster than crypto metaverses, which remain gated by blockchain hurdles and low traffic. In a world where 49% of gamers already seek "deeper immersion" over passive feeds, Horizon seems like another smart beachhead to plant my flag and to see if the tide roll in.
Hopefully, in the future, integration of blockchain enabled commerce can happen in Meta, or we can have more Web3 presence in the Meta Quest store (looking at games like Nifty Island for this one), because quick and easy transactions for digital assets in real-time in a 3D setting seems like it would benefit everyone. Proof of ownership, instant splits and support, and even assets can become cross-pollinated where crypto and VR merge as they grow from the fringes of current tech markets.
There's some potential building around VR/crypto crossovers it's not just my hype, it's a two niches that's maturing with legit momentum together. The VR metaverse market alone is exploding from early stats cited, driven by immersive commerce and digital ownership where blockchain fits like a glove for verifiable scarcity (think NFTs as unique VR art pieces or land), cutting fraud and enabling seamless royalties cross game markets for artists, something Horizon could supercharge with Meta's 3+ million monthly active creators.
We've got proof-of-concept from Decentraland and The Sandbox with $500M+ in NFT sales since 2020, but they're crypto-gated; integrating into Quest (which sold 15 million units in 2024) could explode adoption 5-10x, per Deloitte's 2025 metaverse report, since 62% of non-crypto users say "ease of entry" is their big barrier to Web3. For artists like me, it's a no-brainer: real-time interactions which could lead to potential sales in a 3D gallery could boost engagement 40% over 2D drops, according to Unity's 2025 immersive e-commerce survey. I think this could be the next layer for Quest, crypto, and digital artist growth, turning passive scrollers into active owners and particpants ~ no matter geolocation.
Hardware improvements can supercharge this whole VR wave, and the second I think about it, my mind jumps straight to haptic gloves. Humans experience so much of the world through our hands. I mean hell, we're scrolling endlessly on phones just to feel connected, so imagine unlocking fine-motor magic in VR with affordable, easy-to-use hardware that plugs right into tons of games and experiences. That's the golden ticket to mass adoption: gloves that let you feel the grip, the swing, the impact, the texture, without the bulk or price tag of full suits.
As an artist, it'd be game changing for having more realistic creation experience in VR. Like holding a virtual brush that pushes back just right, letting me fine-tune strokes with real resistance and zero physical strain, so I could layer details without the physical pitfalls. Or a ceramics studio where I could mold virtual clay without the mess and fuss. For gamers, it's pure joy: swords that you feel the crunch on impact, guns that kick in your palm, turning games into something you live, not just play. And for therapy? I think of vets swinging bats to rebuild motor control without real-world risk, folks with chronic pain venting rage in safe chaos, or even anxiety sufferers practicing social hangs with tangible feedback that grounds you in the moment, making immersion a healing loop instead of a headache.
I know some folks are already cooking this up like HaptX with their microfluidics that squeeze your fingers like you're gripping a hilt for real, SenseGlove's force-feedback beasts tuned for combat sims, and bHaptics' wireless TactGloves that could be consumer-ready soon. Commercial, accessible versions could tip the scales hard in VR's favor, pulling in the scroll fatigued masses who crave tangibility without dropping $500 on prototypes. We're talking a market primed for it with gamers and people begging for more connection and immersion.
Overall, I think VR is about to become the new couch time ritual and one that actually pulls people together instead of apart. People look at someone in a headset and scream “ultimate disconnect!” but my experience is opposite. It's helped me reconnect to my body that has been battered and bruised by reality from a child while dreaming and hoping for a better future.
Baseline... I'm like... hell yes, let’s disconnect from the garbage parts of reality. I want a future where tech fixes shit, not just numbs us and disconnects us more. In VR I see this happening and the potential for so much more: therapy that moves bodies and minds, commerce is connected to verifiable real builders, community who embraces and celebrates new tech, fun that makes you sweat and laugh, infinite space to build without traditional gatekeepers or issues, and freedom for anyone with a headset, no matter where they are on the planet (or potentially other worlds in the future).
That’s not escape. That’s arrival.
landscape for aliens, vr x procreate painting, owned by darkfarms https://opensea.io/item/ethereum/0xbc2adefc3bb1cd7455538461ae72ce7cdbcca122/2
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
New to Web3? Here Are Some Guides:
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A great starting point for artists, collectors, or institutions exploring the world of crypto art, including wallet setup and minting digital art on Tezos.
Learn how to create, collect, and explore immutable art on the motherchain, Bitcoin, using Gamma’s easy-to-navigate platform.
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)vrvirtualrealitymetaquesthorizonworldsvrgamingvrartmetahorizonquest3immersiveartdigitalartvrartistvrpaintingvrrehabvrtherapyhapticglovesvrstudioweb3artnftartistcryptoartonchainartartinvrvrcommunitywomeninvrvrforartistsvrhealingbeatsaberdeadpoolvrvraddictfutureofartholodeckdreamsaiartnftweb3metaversearvrimmersivetechcreativetechdigitalcreatorwomenintecharttech<![CDATA[summerween: glitch songs of the summer part 2]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/summerween-glitch-songs-of-the-summer-part-2 fh6bPZoeEftjctEgcIKsSun, 23 Nov 2025 15:17:30 GMTContinuation of the summerween saga - original post here: https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/summerween-glitch-songs-of-the-summer?referrer=0x8469B7b08D30C63fEA3a248a198dE9D634B63d70
Previous episode of my AI music creation saga TL;DR: I have a concept album I made over the summer exploring grief using AI to create the music. I went to release it on SoundCloud and they rejected it, which made me super upset. I only had it released on Zora and Audius.
NOW though, an online friend of mine pointed me in the direction of DistroKid, a different web2 music distro service that DOES allow original AI music based on each store’s policy, not pushing their own agenda and letting artists and markets more autonomy. So I have released my albums on all major music platforms now and more to come!
Summerween: glitch songs of the summer part 1 and 2 were released serendipitously over Halloween/Day of the Dead, which I posted about lowkey on x and farcaster. I also released a single "sorry for all the despair". All these albums are darkwave/synthpop/glitchpop noise-adjacent experimental mostly instrumental AI music.
Instead of chasing the same polished, “safe” sound that dominates every playlist, I made a deliberate choice to go the opposite direction: treat AI like a chaotic new instrument that nobody has fully figured out yet. I wanted to drag out the weird glitches, the uncanny harmonies, the frequencies that make you feel like the song is falling apart and rebuilding itself at the same time; all the stuff that traditional music training tells you to “fix.” I kept pushing until the tracks felt alien, haunted, and deeply human all at once. The result is music that doesn’t sound quite like anything else out there right now, and honestly that feels like the biggest win of all. I’m stupidly proud of how unapologetically strange and personal it turned out.
While my complete catalogue is onchain on Zora and Audius, I have just these few, for now, distributed on all major networks like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and even TikTok and Instagram.
I have to say I got really emotional, and still do, seeing my name in the Apple Music store with the word “Artist” under it, along with going to my TikTok profile and seeing the new music tab.
As someone who’s spent years slamming into wall after wall in my tradart and cryptoart careers with the rejections, gatekeeping, disappearing art from shows, policies and systems that seem designed to keep people like me (whatever that means) out, finally seeing my name sitting right there on Spotify and Apple Music, listed as “Artist” like it’s the most normal thing in the world, hits different. For once the system didn’t manage to shove me back into the margins. I get to take my seat at the same table as everyone else. It’s not just relief; it’s this stubborn, teary-eyed hope that maybe the doors aren’t all bolted shut after all.
There’s still a ton of outright hate and stigma aimed at anyone making art with AI, and honestly I think most of it is pointed in completely the wrong direction. The real fight should be with the corporations hoarding datasets and power, who have been exploiting artists some for decades already, not with independent artists who are just trying to express themselves and experiment with new technology.
The people like me who are wide-eyed critical of these tools, who spend hours wrestling with their limits and biases instead of blindly praising them...well, we’re the ones who actually understand what’s going on under the hood or at least trying. By staying in the mess, calling out the problems, and still creating anyway, we’re proving you can use the tech without selling your soul to it. I genuinely believe that’s how we steer toward a future that’s more fair and equitable for every artist and creator, not less, while inspiring the world to create more.I personally want MORE artists in the world, not less.
Speaking of building that fairer future, I’m lucky enough to be doing it right now with the support of people who actually get it.
I’m currently in a digital art residency with the Wait and Hope Foundation, and the project I’m working on feels like everything I’ve been fighting toward: a full narrative music video that weaves together AI-generated visuals and a brand-new track made the same unapologetically weird way as the albums. I’ll be dropping the song everywhere and minting/releasing the video itself as an NFT when it’s done. After years of making mostly isolated tracks, diving this deep into storytelling aspects I can bring together relatively quickly with AI feels electric.
Anyway, here are some links to my music! Please if you like it let me know <3
Audius:
[Empress Trash 🌈🖤 (@EmpressTrash) \ \ Multiversatile Artist // Destigmatize // #cc0 #ai #glitch\ \ https://audius.co\\ \
Spotify:
[Empress Trash \ \ Listen to Empress Trash on Spotify. Artist · 3 monthly listeners.\ \ https://spotify.com\\ \
Apple Music:
[Empress Trash on Apple Music \ \ Listen to music by Empress Trash on Apple Music. Find top songs and albums by Empress Trash including sorry for the constant despair, wild seed and more.\ \ https://music.apple.com\\ \
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@empresstrash
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)musicartistblogaimusicaiethicalaiartandaimusicandaiempresstrashsunoaisunoapplemusicartistreleasedistromusicdistroartistontheblockchainblockchainartexperimentalmusicaudiusdarkwaveglitchglitchartnoisemusicgenerativeartgenerativemusicsynthpopglitchpopdarksynthcyberwavehauntologynoisepopelectronicmusicsummerweenglitchsongsofthesummermusicnftonchainmusicweb3musiczoramusicdistrokidspotifyartistapplemusicartistnewmusic2025indieelectronicundergroundelectronicairevolutiongriefcoreemotionalelectronicsadgirlsynthditialartresidencymixedmediaartaianimationwomeninaiqueeraineurodivergentartist<![CDATA[THE BIRTH OF DAMSELS]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/the-birth-of-damsels-1 P6N858wewxB0areWUJtsTue, 18 Nov 2025 16:11:20 GMT
Originally written in July 2023 for a virtual gallery build on Oncyber with the Line project showcasing Damsels. Copied unedited for posterity.
As an artist, I’ve always been fascinated by the human form, and it has been a consistent theme of mine through my trad art and crypto art career. Before Damsels the series, there were a lot of PROTO DAMSELS with my first works on OpenSea in Spring 2021, which I digitized, then glitched out of them. I’m still really proud of this series because it was me bridging my traditional art practice back into digital AND actually sharing them with the world.
Links to a couple of these works on OpenSea:
[Sexual Landscape - Glitched - Trash Empress | OpenSea \ \ Multi-versatile Artist//Matriarch of Mistakes//Chaotic Oracle//Art Validator//Cat Peepo Army//Trash Can, not Cannot//She/They//\ \ https://opensea.io\\ \
[Cameo - Trash Empress | OpenSea \ \ Multi-versatile Artist//Matriarch of Mistakes//Chaotic Oracle//Art Validator//Cat Peepo Army//Trash Can, not Cannot//She/They//\ \ https://opensea.io\\ \
Shortly after this, I created one of my first series on OG H=N titled “Figuratively Speaking,” in which I took figure drawings done in watercolor, scanned them, then applied a hue cycle to give them life. These were very popular and were the foundation of my place in the Tezos art community.
Links to the Figuratively Speaking series:
https://objkt.com/@empresstrash?search=figuratively%20speaking
There are also two glitch pieces I created just a month or two before DAMSELS, quite literally titled Damsel 1 + Damsel 2, in which I took stills from 1950s BDSM films and glitched them. All of these works and series, I feel, are me trying to bring together two disparate parts of me in traditional and digital art creation.
Links to Damsel I + II:
https://objkt.com/tokens/hicetnunc/111932 https://objkt.com/tokens/hicetnunc/111968
The culmination of all of this was that I was invited to Newport Beach, CA, to exhibit in a Crypto Jazz Fest, in which people bought my art right there on the spot and encouraged me to go buy an iPad + Apple Pencil with the money. I did, and it changed everything about my process and was the natural bridge of my traditional skills and digital and love for animation.
After a couple months of iPad experiments in Procreate, there was, in later Summer/Fall of 2021, the Fame Lady Squad fiasco. For those who don’t know, Fame Lady Squad was one of the first PFP projects that presented themselves as an all-woman team, and all the PFPs were of women. They claimed, too, they were going to donate a portion to domestic violence charity — which, as a survivor myself, I decided to buy one and advocate for the project.
Within a short time, it was figured out the FLS team was actually 3 Russian men pretending to be women. This caused a community outrage. This was a turning point for me. Instead of yelling about it on the internet like I usually would, I took all that anger and said to myself, I’m going to draw my own women – fuck men exploiting us and our form anymore.
I focused everything I could to try to make the simplest, gestural feminine form à la old master’s sketches, but also rich with bright colors and the 2-frame wiggle animation to grab attention and give them life. I also was pissed about how sex workers and LGBTQ people were being treated in the world as a whole, so I was like, fuck it, I’m making it about all that too – because they are part of my identity as well. This is going to be the collection in the raw nude, wiggling, bright-color forms that represents all of us and stands for us.
Thus Damsels were born. Currently, the collection sits at 341 of the eventual goal of 666 made, minted on ETH and TEZ. All are sold out on primary.
As of writing this and until I reboot this collection – which will happen – I’ve taken a break. The year-long journey from the 1st Damsel to number 341 was an arduous and emotional one for me. From trauma, I have bad body dysmorphia, which makes this collection very personal. Also, there is a lot of hate for LGBTQ bodies and sex workers on the internet, and fielding that was taking a toll on my mental health. I have been taking the time to shore myself up mentally, work on learning new technologies like AI and Touch Designer, and now building out this line to reflect further on the scope and importance to me of this collection.
This part is being written as of 18/11/2025.
In reflection I have realized for me, endlessly drawing the nude figure — starting as a child trying to process what was happening to me, then traditional life-drawing classes, then on the iPad for Damsels — became accidental therapy long before I knew the words for it. When sexual trauma fucked with my body image so hard that every time I look in the mirror my body changes, the repetitive practice of drawing real naked bodies hour after hour rewires something.
At some point, I stopped seeing “perfect” or “broken” and started seeing just… bodies. Art therapists and studies on survivors have shown this to be true: repeatedly observing and rendering the human form in its messy reality chips away at body dysmorphia because you’re training your brain to accept variation instead of disgust. It’s exposure therapy with charcoal and an Apple Pencil; I confront the flesh I was taught to be ashamed of and that was for others to control until it stops feeling like evidence of my damage and starts feeling neutral, even powerful.
The two-frame wiggle in the gif animation further is me breathing life back into bodies that trauma tried to freeze or erase. The tiny loop becomes proof that this form can still shift, breathe, exist on its own terms. For someone whose dysmorphia screams “hide it, hate it, don’t let anyone see,” putting hundreds of bright, wiggling, unapologetic nudes out there was the ultimate fuck-you to every person who ever made me feel dirty for having curves, scars, or desire.
Since creating the Oncyber Gallery and the first part of this writing, Damsels have moved along slowly. I have been dealing with pain issues from various reasons, causing my right hand to go numb, and have also done intense physical therapy to start being able to draw and paint regularly again.
The main housekeeping thing I have completed was I have moved Damsels from the OG OpenSea shared contract to its own Base contract. Why Base? Well, I think Base will be around for a long time so my work will also be, and also the fees allowed me to airdrop the replacements to existing holders and mint new without being beholden to eth mainnet gas fluctuations. The legacy collection on the shared OS contract still exists as a retired collection, but the Base contract is where I will be putting the rest of the Damsel collection once I finish it.
Right now I have about 55 completed but not minted. I am plugging along very quickly and have a goal of finishing the collection completely by the end of year fully how I initially intended: as 666 unique works with 333 on Tezos and 333 on Ethereum (Base). They will all be dropped at once priced at about ~$100 USD in ETH or TEZ; no longer will the Tezos ones be priced lower.
There are a few on primary still available as I write this from a small batch I released earlier this year as I started to be able to draw again. Thank you everyone who has supported my journey and specifically this collection.
LINKS Legacy Damsel About: https://empresstrash.neocities.org/damsels
Official Ethereum Base Collection on Manifold Contract (not opensea shared):
https://opensea.io/collection/damsels
CA: 0x6fc0d5077425a22e6033cd905ca973597449455b
Tezos Collection: http://objkt.com/collection/KT1XFux589Np2umqZgcBpquJe4zB437K3ALC
OpenSea Shared Contract Retired Legacy Collection: https://opensea.io/collection/damsels-legacy
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)empresstrasharttherapycryptoartartontheblockchaindestrigmatizeartastherapysurvivortherapydrawinggifartfigurativeartdamselsbirthofdamselsnftartwomeninnftsweb3arttezosartbasechainethereumnftglitchartanimationarttraumahealingsexualtraumasurvivorbodydysmorphiaexposuretherapyhealingartfeministartqueerartnudeartdigitalnudeprocreateartipadartoncyberhicetnuncobjktzoraartistnftcollectorcuratednftwomenofweb3survivorarttrashartspamartnftcollectiondrawingheals<![CDATA[Rant on Generative Art Hate]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/rant-on-generative-art-hate BUYijmspyRisx3Xky6fMTue, 18 Nov 2025 04:50:30 GMTI’ve been an artist my entire life. I have a BFA and a long history of creation, so whether I’m a “real” artist is not up for debate in my mind. Even so, when I began using AI, I lost collectors and longtime supporters. People who already knew my situation acted as if I had suddenly become less of an artist or less of a person. That betrayal piled on top of the grief I already carried about possibly never drawing or painting again.
I kept integrating AI into my practice anyway. I have to make art, and I love experimenting with new tools. Some days the pain still gets so bad I can’t sit at a computer for long, yet I still create.
Eventually my AI glitch work found its audience. New collectors appeared. The pieces have been exhibited around the world, auctioned at Sotheby’s, and this year one even entered a museum collection here in CDMX. That success brought its own challenges, but I will always keep creating with whatever tools I choose.
This year, thanks to brutal physical therapy, constant heat therapy, and new medication that finally addresses the underlying condition, feeling is coming back to my hand and the pain is decreasing. For the first time in years I can paint and draw consistently again. Fine motor control is coming back while numbness recedes.
So with all this to me when AI haters post “pick up a pencil or die” at AI artists, it’s not just rude and threatening. It’s ableist as fuck. It comes from a crowd that sanctimoniously believes they’re defending “real” art while erasing disabled creators who adapted in order to keep working.
Real artists use whatever tools let them fulfill their vision and create, no matter what collectors, institutions, movie directors, random furry artists, or anyone else thinks. Real artists inspire people. Real artists pioneer and expand the definition of art instead of gatekeeping it.
If you’re that worried about the future of creativity, maybe spend your time learning to code or understanding how the tech actually works, instead of punching at other artists while claiming to be defending real art. Or log off, worship your pencils in silence, get genuinely good with them, and leave the rest of us in peace to explore new tools and see if the little things we make today can compound into a better world tomorrow where tech helps uplift everyone, not just a few.
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)genartgenaiaiableismartartcreationartistdigitalartaiartaiartisttechphobia<![CDATA[remix it w/ no censorship (empress's edition)]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/remix-it-w-no-censorship-empresss-edition 3atmyocmEeaZNUs6iNMCSat, 30 Aug 2025 03:01:16 GMTIn the glow of the remix's mechanics potential, where every post becomes a canvas for collective evolution, the call for 'switches' to erase unwanted layers rings hollow and stands as a shadow of systems some of us are trying to leave behind.
I wholly celebrate remix as quote-tweeting on steroids, a tool that bull-runs engagement and democratizes narrative. Yet introducing deletion mechanics betrays the core promise of onchain building: resistance to censorship.
What starts as a safeguard against hate speech morphs into a weapon silencing dissidents, survivors trying to speak again predators, people trying to challenge violent cycles from patriarchal domination, or anyone fighting life and limb to buck fascist tides. I stand against hate and fear being a dictator of our actions, but the goal of true equitable and egalitarian society demands we expose those shadows, not bury them deeper.
In the spirit of forging onchain worlds that honor every voice is heard without the iron fist of erasure, which again many of us came here to build a different future, we can lean first on user-empowered muting tools that let individuals curate their own feeds while preserving the full, unalterable record for those who choose to engage. If people want to be an asshole onchain, let them be an asshole onchain, and let history determine where they stand.
There also can be layered visibility through community driven tags and decentralized reputation scores that could flag potential harms with warnings or contextual notes (not so much shadowbanning the content though becasue that is just another soft form of censorship). This fosters informed navigation rather than blanket removal but allow room for issues to be addressed. I think of how with Microsoft CoPilot, I asked for a goth meme image that said the word die. Instead of blocking the whole image from generation, it just didn't generate the word die in it. I had to edit in, which I laughed the whole time doing it but it got me thinking how this small change in moderation could open up a better system that doesn't descend into censorship as quickly.
With CoPilot not generating the word, it's complying with its' safety protocols which we have put into AI to not wish things like death on people. In the context of a goth meme, it's not a threat but a reflection of thousands years of art centered around trying to cope with and understand death which we all have to deal with, just like we all have to deal with fascist, hateful, or violent ideals because these things impact us all.
This surgical moderation, instead of a sledgehammer, could even be made more transparent with the AI responding "this word was not generated due to my no making images telling people to die protocol". Like explicitely state what is the issue, instead of the opaque systems that exist now.
The best part of this transparency is, then I could have a conversation with the AI about it, find out why those mechanisms are there, explain my viewpoint of why this meme is not dangerous, even share the micro-moderation public to have further discussion. (this is exactly what I did and am doing). When this happened, I didn't feel censored, I felt misunderstood, but it also made a great meme to showcase a better way and prove my point.
This even spurred an idea of an onchain "artistic license" where if an individual shows they have basic education in global art history (not just western centric), basic art skills, basic understanding of copyright law, and basic ethics training (which these ethics could be determined by an ecosystem DAO Governance, universally agreed upon rules of conduct, ie Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that preserve free speech, while protecting those voices that get silenced or erased the fastest) I'm granted a soulbound token (no buying and selling these) that can show to systems I'm operating as an educated, world wise artist in good intentions even if topics delve into normally taboo or heavily moderated subjects.
Other solutions as opposed to heavy handed punitive "off switches" are to embrace and celebrate incentive structures, like buy and hype post tokens of those you agree with or normally are pushed aside for louder angrier voices or onchain badges for thoughtful contributions beyond monetary rewards. These might naturally amplify positive discourse and drown out toxicity through collective uplift.
There is also education. Integrated education modules on media literacy, propaganda, history, and psychology could equip users to confront and evolve hateful ideas in the open, turning clashes into catalysts for growth. These also could all have onchain soulbound tokens badges rewarding people for taking the time to study these things in a variety of ways. There could even be moderator badges, that instead of ban hammers, they are trained to moderate disputes for resolutions to move forward instead of the same arguements happening over and over again.
All these can and should be enabled on a per wallet instance, not demanding KYC if operating within all onchain structures, because then people are rewarded and judge for their character and not their identity. KYC obviously can come into play with something that ties to traditional system ~ like my BFA in Art, Drawing, Animation with a focus on the history of women in art and propaganda through the ages and sustainbility certificates ~ I have to KYC so you know it's me unless someone can come up with a clever solution to verifying things like this onchain without KYC.
Additionally, algorithmic tweaks on a personal and system level can happen to ensure engaging with the voices YOU want to amplify. They can be designed for diversity amplification, not just popularity amplification, to ensure no single echo chamber dominates through bad actors, bots, or just trolls who don't give a fuck. More voices means those full of hate advocating for violence and stripping of rights of their fellow humans get drowned out, not more censorship. This all can be achieved with a little bit of effort from everyone to weave in underrepresented perspectives to balance the scales and taking a moment to design more nuanced systems for the benefit of all of humanity.
If we lose freedom of speech, we lose a free and fair society. We need to do everything in our power, knowledge, data, history, and collective experiences to preserve it in new systems being built for EVERYONE.
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
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]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)web3onchainonchainsummercensorshipnocensorshipcensorshipresistancenewsystemsmoderationsystemsaiaimoderationfreedomofspeech<![CDATA[rodeo remix: paladin pinups]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/rodeo-remix-paladin-pinups 8ZgpMH9fRGNihmI5EWOtTue, 26 Aug 2025 12:45:44 GMT
[@empresstrash on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup / glit..." \ \ Paladin Pinup / glitch ai painting Help me reimagine this work for Rodeo's remix party! How? Download → Remix → Post → ...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
This last weekend I had the pleasure of being the artist for Rodeo weekly remix event which actually this month marks my 1 year of being on Rodeo. The piece and theme I chose was Paladin Pinups.
I have been exploring this theme at length spam posting on Zora, and wanted to see what the Rodeo community did with it. I wasn't disappointed. Why Paladin Pinups though?
We generally think of Paladins as male because of the roots in ancient Rome and Charlemagne's Court, but many stories and lore paint a different historical picture of women fighting with men or to fight to defend their homes. I’m of Scandinavian descent and it’s 100% documented my women ancestors were badass in a multitude of ways with Viking shield-maidens like Lagertha proven by DNA from Birka graves. Beyond my culture, women warriors have spanned global histories from Greece to China.
Contemporary popular culture it's a pretty accepted trope of women as warriors which largely stems from DnD in the 1970s and other nerd culture from that era. Never in the game were there any sex restrictions to play the class but there was early slightly skewed language and mechanics dependent on sex with by 1989 the core rules to not have any gender gaps in rules. This what seems like a minor decision in creating the game actually is another HUGE point in women empowerment, especially within nerd culture which you can't really be part of if you haven't played DnD a little bit at least. :P
Pinups get heat sometimes for objectifying women which can be true dependent on the artist, but to blanket demonize a memetic is not it. Pinups were SO important to WWII era not only in helping soldiers mentally away at war but also in empowering women. More researchers agree, including the Smithsonian, that pinups were a catalyzing point for the sexual revolution. Both Rosie the Riveter and Betty Page, iconic positive representations of femininity adopted by many, coming from pinup art.
Both paladins and pinups are propaganda. How warriors and women are depicted generally in art is to reaffirm the ruling class at any point in history. With crypto x decentralization, we are at the start of a new era. Instead of central control dictating what narratives people can see, create or engage with, now each creator is as empowered as ever to express freely what they think. I thought Paladin Pinups would be a good exercise in decentralized propaganda when artists are free to create what they wish from a core idea through remixing.
Ultimately, Paladin Pinups are a super charged empowerment of multifaceted nature of feminity. Instead of victims, these women are defenders of themselves and their home. It is such a disservice to us and you to only view women through one lens, missing so much beauty in the nuance of feminity that is just as much the human experience. We can be both sexual and soft with hard and defensive. Strong women in mind, intellect, body and spirit ensure a strong home and strong society and should be celebrated, not demonized.
TY for everyone celebrating with me. Here are links to all the remixes I saw. While the official event is over, anyone can still create a Paladin Pinup. If you do, please include a link in the comments below to share. <3
[@kinwiz on Rodeo: "Ok! Here's my contri..." \ \ Ok! Here's my contribution to this special Rodeo Remix with "Paladin Pinup" by my friend, the magnificent @empresstrash ...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@flintpope on Rodeo: "PALADIN PIN-UP EMPRE..." \ \ PALADIN PIN-UP EMPRESS TRASH REMIX @empresstrash @ben Remix vote for @minilove I re-imagined this image as a collec...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@b1tb0y on Rodeo: "𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙻𝙾𝚄𝚁 ..." \ \ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙻𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙾𝙵 𝙵𝚄𝚁𝚈 RODEO REMIX 🔥\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@1000landz on Rodeo: "Here's my contributi..." \ \ Here's my contribution to the Rodeo Remix with "Paladin Pinup" by @empresstrash Better late than never? @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@mumbleboy on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup Remix ..." \ \ Paladin Pinup Remix @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@darko on Rodeo: "Empress Trash Remix ..." \ \ Empress Trash Remix It's hard to make out, but all the calligraphy says Empress Trash @ben @empresstrash Watch it with ...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@isla on Rodeo: "@empresstrash Rodeo ..."\ \ @empresstrash Rodeo Remix Series @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@isla on Rodeo: "Paladin Sword" \ \ Paladin Sword\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@image on Rodeo: "Rodeo Remix Party ██..." \ \ Rodeo Remix Party ███ Remix Paladin Pinup by @empresstrash Thank you @ben for inviting me\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@lobstafradiovlo on Rodeo: "[empress]trash rocke..." \
\
empress]trash rocket Late 🦞 @rodeo remix of 'Paladin Pinup / glitch ai painting' by @empresstrash... @ben #314
https://rodeo.club\
\
[@abstraxt on Rodeo: "PaLAdiN PinUp Rodeo ..." \ \ PaLAdiN PinUp Rodeo Remix @empresstrash @ben join party @stampfigang @lobstafradiovlo @cryptolust @dusty\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@kapstone on Rodeo: "Paladin of the Pacif..." \ \ Paladin of the Pacific Remix of "Paladin Pinup" by @empresstrash Thanks @ben for organizing!\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@gifartist on Rodeo: "@empresstrash @ben ..."\ \ @empresstrash @ben Made with Mosh Hope you like it\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@ai-ai-wei on Rodeo: "AAW - [RR] - Rodeo R..." \ \ AAW - [RR] - Rodeo Remix - 2/3 - Paladin Pinup - Remix of Empress Trash glitch ai painting. - @empresstrash @ben @ypast...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@ai-ai-wei on Rodeo: "AAW - [RR] - Rodeo R..." \ \ AAW - [RR] - Rodeo Remix - 3/3 - Paladin Pinup - Remix of Empress Trash glitch ai painting. - @empresstrash @ben @endle...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@guruguruhyena on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup Remix ..." \ \ Paladin Pinup Remix for @empresstrash @ben create w my AI model "𝓰ᵤ𝓰₋ᵦₒₜ"on @titles\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@nostalgia on Rodeo: "RatRace.jpg" \ \ RatRace.jpg\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@tamarisk on Rodeo: "Here's my Rodeo Remi..." \ \ Here's my Rodeo Remix with "Paladin Pinup" by @empresstrash and a fabulous sea creature.\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@matcha on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup / Matc..." \ \ Paladin Pinup / Matcha Series Original concept by @empresstrash Rodeo Remix Party ❤️💚 @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@empresstrash on Rodeo: "New Moon Release rem..." \ \ New Moon Release remix of a remix :P Moshed work of @tamarisk 's mermaid remix of my paladin pinup <3 https://rodeo.cl...\\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@kenny on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup / glit..." \ \ Paladin Pinup / glitch ai painting Remix @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@ai-ai-wei on Rodeo: "AAW - [RR] - Rodeo R..." \ \ AAW - [RR] - Rodeo Remix - 1/3 - Paladin Pinup - Remix of Empress Trash glitch ai painting. - @empresstrash @ben @stamp...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@promptartisan on Rodeo: "𝙶𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝙿𝚊𝚕�..." \ \ 𝙶𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗 - reimagined through the simulation. Remixing this piece for Rodeo's Remix Party where a p...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@gorikfr on Rodeo: "jumping on the Rodeo..." \ \ jumping on the Rodeo Remix bandwagon. Remix of original work from @empresstrash (https://rodeo.club/post/736476447412931...\\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@newtype on Rodeo: "New Paladin Pinup Ty..." \ \ New Paladin Pinup Type #1 Rodeo Remix @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@newtype on Rodeo: "New Paladin Pinup Ty..." \ \ New Paladin Pinup Type #2 Rodeo Remix @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@newtype on Rodeo: "New Paladin Pinup Ty..." \ \ New Paladin Pinup Type #3 Rodeo Remix @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@mansky on Rodeo: "My Rodeo Remix with ..." \ \ My Rodeo Remix with "Paladin Pinup" by @empresstrash @ben @wyando @tamarisk @jady @khunchan @pieface @juergen62 @crypt...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@tektitehigh on Rodeo: "My contribution to @..." \ \ My contribution to @empresstrash remix contest @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@dusty on Rodeo: "Love the remixes! So..." \ \ Love the remixes! So fun! @empresstrash 🗡️ 🌖 @ben hope you like it!\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@aoifeodwyer on Rodeo: "Mythana Remixed ble..." \ \ Mythana Remixed blend of work by @empresstrash with my own. @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@rauschem-art on Rodeo: "Rodeo Remix Pepe Ver..." \ \ Rodeo Remix Pepe Version @ben @empresstrash\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@foen-ix on Rodeo: "Chrome Siren Rite (0..." \ \ Chrome Siren Rite (01) Remix of Paladin Pinup by @empresstrash\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@foen-ix on Rodeo: "Chrome Siren Rite (0..." \ \ Chrome Siren Rite (03) Remix of Paladin Pinup by @empresstrash\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@c001gate on Rodeo: "Remix @empresstrash ..." \ \ Remix @empresstrash made with Heavypaint . @ben, love to see a @bearbigs version\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@mumbleboy on Rodeo: "Paladin Pinup Remix ..." \ \ Paladin Pinup Remix featuring Jady Made one more just for fun. Jady has kindly given me permission to mint it. @ben @em...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@virginialori on Rodeo: "RodeoRemix-Paladin P..." \ \ RodeoRemix-Paladin Pinup @empresstrash @ben\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@boonii on Rodeo: "Remastered "Paladin ..." \ \ Remastered "Paladin Pinup" / glitch ai painting @ben on Rodeo Remix Not ideal, but full mix of color and paper in few ...\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
[@missgigiluo-111 on Rodeo: "This is my remix, I ..." \ \ This is my remix, I hope you like it, a gigiluo remix that I created thanks @empresstrash\ \ https://rodeo.club\\ \
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
New to Web3? Here Are Some Guides:
A beginner-friendly guide to understanding Web3, its decentralized nature, and why it’s reshaping the internet.
A great starting point for artists, collectors, or institutions exploring the world of crypto art, including wallet setup and minting digital art on Tezos.
Learn how to create, collect, and explore immutable art on the motherchain, Bitcoin, using Gamma’s easy-to-navigate platform.
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)remixrodeoartdigitalartaiartremixculturecryptoartartontheblockchainweb3cryptobasebulidonbaseonchainsummerpinupartpaladinwarriorfeminismwomenwarriorstechnofeminismethethereum<![CDATA[on censorship x my art]]>https://paragraph.com/@empresstrash/on-censorship-x-art JfEtE8BgCJ68nfaO0tqUThu, 21 Aug 2025 07:59:20 GMTToday, I received a dmca notice on my livestream (dreamweirdodanceclub.live) from Kick for a video on demand, which I never asked to be saved in the first place. I reached out to them to express my upset at this stating since I can't turn off the auto-save this fundamentally violates my consent because my livestream is intended to be just that a live performance, and now I get punished for something I didn't opt into? This incident is right on the heels of soundcloud refusing to distribute my AI created glitch noise concept album and highlights a broader issues many face in digital performance art, where platforms' moderation systems often clash with artists' rights and intentions, leading to unintended or intended suppression.
Yes, I livestream all sorts of music I want because this is an ongoing live performance piece that is not going to end anytime soon. For a few months now, I have left my livestream on 24/7 on my desktop even when I'm not actively using it and intentionally not using it as much as possible when I'm working in my dual monitor setup. This is a combination of passive promotion, censorship protest, privacy commentary, and protection, more so protest I polished up as promotion in hopes I won't be censored more. The protection comes from being a woman artist who lives alone in a major world city during a time of great political turmoil and violence. Leaving the livestream on serves as a passive indicator that I am okay to people who may care.
Since I put my desktop through a mosh audio reactive live filter that painstaking I crafted live on stream, glitching what is on my desktop in time to the music, it is a statement about censorship and privacy rolled into one. As an artist known for AI, glitch art, identity driven works, and CC0 licensing, often focusing on destigmatization and feminist themes, I've used this stream to showcase experimental visuals that don't get exhibited, including audio-reactive Hydra code pieces and community-submitted art, turning it into a neo-pirate radio of sorts that challenges traditional media gatekeeping. The setup allows for real-time interaction, like chats and tipping to feature user-submitted videos through the mosh filter, emphasizing collaborative art creation. This all is akin to digital busking...with layers.
The empty desktop rotating art is part of the art as well. In a world that so much is demanded from an individual to be able to just live, let alone thrive as an artist, along with my personal battles with censorship, shadowbanning and the pesky, persistent issue of centuries of inequities and erasure in the art world for people from my identity ~ this all starts to be an echo within this current technological iterations of the same issues women have had for centuries.
My art, espcially including my livestream, is an attempt to have a conversation directly addressing historical patterns where female artists have been systematically denied they even exist, like Marietta Robusti (1560-1590) or Judith Leyster (1609-1660), and where the female body has largely been shaped by male artists, reducing women to symbols of male privilege rather than creators of cultur e. In the current context of the world, as a woman to just play music, make the art I want, which yes includes the nude feminine form, transact freely, and a lot of times seem like I'm doing nothing (when in fact I'm working my ass off) is a protest.
It falls in the same vein of Lennon's famous protest bed-ins or Hsieh's "one year performance 1980-1981 (time clock piece)" where every hour on the hour punched in on a time clock to do nothing and took a photo of it. Not saying my livestream is on their level, that's not really for me to decide, but more so to express this is a long standing prescident and accepted form of peaceful protest. My livestream also mirrors broader uses of digital protest art by marginalized artists, who leverage online spaces to resist inequities, amplify voices, and combat erasure during crises like the pandemic, where art becomes a tool for human rights advocacy and community building. This form of online activism has proven effective in channeling outrage into productive, persuasive and peaceful rooted messages, highlighting how digital tools can positively foster resilience and dissent amid global challenges we all face.
In a world that is hostile to some people because of their identity, mere prescence and existence becomes a radical act due to the broader environment we have to try to survive. Now, mixing in all the music stuff, I know is opening a can of worms, but it's a can that maybe needs to be opened. As a creator, the spirit of copyright laws was intended to protect me, the individual creator, but a lot of times, now for decades, the same laws designed to protect us are used to suppress us.
This is seen in how algorithmic content moderation on platforms, intended to create secure environments for everyone, relies on machine learning to automatically detect and shadowban content, often leading to the removal or de-prioritization of valid and in historical context highly valuable artistic expressions, resulting in ethical questions about creative freedom and economic losses for artists. In the context of livestreaming, this suppression is exacerbated by DMCA policies that treat live performances as potential infringements, even when artists argue for fair use in transformative, protest-oriented works, leading to calls for legal reforms to accommodate the rise of digital collective creator economies.
I'm a #cc0 artist at the core. Everything I put in the world, I want everyone to have the right to create from it. People say I'm giving my rights away when I'm cc0, but I disagree. I think I am actually protecting my rights because no one can take the IP away from me. By giving it to everyone, everyone includes me btw, I protect myself from people who would want to exploit me, and so far, it's proven true.
So all of these layers go into dreamy weirdo dance club, a livestream where I'm just trying to carve out this space for myself and others to exist in the digital world that demands my energy 24/7 to stay relevant. A vibe of come chill, listen to some weird music, no pressure to engage with anything. This push for inclusive digital environments is crucial, as algorithmic censorship disproportionately affects marginalized artists who challenge traditional inequitable values, with scholars arguing that biases in AI moderation amplify the male gaze and restrict freedom of expression for those portraying themes like feminine nudity as women themselves. My own experiences from curating art that has been censored to facing exhibition restrictions on nude works underscore how digital spaces can both empower and silence queer, feminist artists like myself, who use a vast array of digital tools to build communities and resist traditional art world gatekeeping.
Places like X, Twitch, Retake.tv and Kick (until this point) have welcomed this or at least not suspended me. I started the livestream on X specifically because most of mine and other crypto business happens there and I know I get shadowbanned there for various reasons. My perceived shadowban goes inline with a study by Giulia Taurino in "A Techno-Feminist Perspective on the Algorithmic Censorship of Artistic Nudity," which highlights how shadowbanning on platforms like X (Twitter) stems from biased algorithms that replicate long entrenched patriarchal values, disproportionately impacting artists from marginalized identities and reinforcing historical inequities in the art world. Further research supports this, showing how "black box gaslighting" undermines users' confidence by denying the existence of shadowbans while algorithms secretly demote content, particularly from vulnerable creators engaging in protest or feminist expression.
In my case, as an artist who've faced repeated hard or soft censorship, multiple exhibitions challenges, or outright erasure, these mechanisms perpetuate the same inequities I've protested against in physical shows at Sotheby's or TED Talks or Superchief or Billboards in Times Square. Ultimately, this livestream is a nuanced act of digital resistance, bridging protest art traditions while pushing again modern inequities, demanding platforms evolve to protect rather than suppress creator's ~ especially those traditionally erased ~ voices.
So, after a couple months of only streaming on X, I decided to multistream just to see what the wider world is like outside the immediate cryptoart bubble of the same five people listening. My stream has been dmcaed on YouTube and FaceBook because they have live monitoring of audio, which I wholly disagree with because again, there is no nuance in their policy, and do not livestream there anymore nor will I be keen to in the future. I also was suspended from Trovo for "being inactive" which is the whole point as I've just explained. Additionally, I let Kick know if they do not change their policy about VoD to not just auto publish them, I may need to reconsider streaming there.
Also to be clear, I was not making money off my livestream directly for months. I think people have bought art I've shared from me and other artists and even started listening to new music artists they discover from it, but tips were non-existent. It wasn't until Retake.tv onboarded me and I started streaming there, that I started to receive tips, which I'm so grateful for because the more tips I get the longer I can sustain and grow this project.
I'm a big fan of Retake.tv because they take the time to listen to me and even weathered me getting hot headed a little bit but with firm compassion. Of course, it being crypto native and integrated at it's core makes me even more a fan, and as I write this (I put this disclaimer because companies and people change sometimes) I would encourage any creator who cares about their creative rights and autonomy to consider adding them to their multi-stream.
dreamweirdodanceclub.live will keep streaming and evolve. I have featured and will continue to feature works from artists in my collection, my works, and also group exhibitions I'm involved in like the ones I've done with Weird Klub or Zora Mafia. I'm also very excited about Audius and plan to build out playlists there to share the web3-native music being created in possible "Audius hours" to further amplify undiscovered and emerging musical artists along with the eclectic mix I play now of historical and current music.
Tune in here: https://retake.tv/live/14515
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
New to Web3? Here Are Some Guides:
A beginner-friendly guide to understanding Web3, its decentralized nature, and why it’s reshaping the internet.
A great starting point for artists, collectors, or institutions exploring the world of crypto art, including wallet setup and minting digital art on Tezos.
Learn how to create, collect, and explore immutable art on the motherchain, Bitcoin, using Gamma’s easy-to-navigate platform.
]]>empresstrash@newsletter.paragraph.com (Empress Trash)censorshipmusicartdigitalartlivestreamingfeminismtechnofeminismintersectionalfeminismartasprotestglitcharttrashartaiartperformancearthistoryofwomeninartarthistorycryptocryptoartfreedomtotransactfreedomeofexpressionremixcultureinternetculturestreamingindependentartistsonchainsummercreatoreconomy