The first tweet in history, works of art, images of sports celebrities… and now press cartoons can be purchased thanks to NFTs, these tamper-proof digital title deeds that attest to the authenticity of a virtual object. A new digital eldorado that could well be used to properly remunerate the authors of satirical cartoons.
The center for caricature, press cartoons and humor in Saint-Just-le-Martel in Haute-Vienne, where a famous festival is held every year, in partnership with the France Cartoon association, has been selling since Tuesday May 3, 2022, World Press Freedom Day, more than 200 drawings on a brand new platform called Grafonage.
Defend freedom of expression
Each drawing is sold for 100 euros each. “Thanks to this operation, press cartoonists can directly obtain remuneration for their work. Saint-Just has had a worldwide reputation in this area for 40 years and the authorizations for the sale of the authors were granted to us very quickly”, explains Philippe Henry, co-president of the French haven for press cartoons.
Fifty French designers, but also Iranian, Venezuelan or Argentinian, bring with their works, a unique look at their political and social environment. “And thanks to NFTs, no shareholder or press boss will be able to tell them: Erase me that, explains Arnaud Cheyssial, co-founder of Grafonage with designer Jancry. Sometimes, they are forced to lessen their causticity to sell their board when their job is precisely to sting in order to be able to blow their nose.
Thanks to this action, their drawing is sanctuary, indelible, incorruptible, irrepudiable. An initiative “unique in the world” according to its designers intended, thanks to the general public, to defend freedom of expression.