Interview: Stories of the Future
Gulf Insider explores the mind of Bahraini visual storyteller, Ishaq Madan.
Can you share a bit about yourself?
I am a self-taught published Bahraini. My inspiration is heavily drawn from my desire to bridge the gap between Bahrain and the world through visual stories that embody the definition of “Sonder”, in parallel with local Bahraini constructs and of architecture and traditional metaphors via visual elements and personal emotions.
I look up to Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, and the late German photographer Peter Lindbergh as their philosophies intertwine in respect to the breaking of norms, and the call to pursuit whatever brings you joy in the medium of photography; the same can apply to other aspects of life too.
Tell us about your creative process. How do you decide if an idea is viable? Do you act on all your creative ideas?
I consume a lot of stimulating media such as music and films. It often helps push my creative drive as it inspires me to simply create. I often visualize things in my mind and try to relay it into reality. I keep a notebook with me to jot down ideas that may come up, it helps me keep things in perspective so I can return to them when the time is right.
You’ve been creating conceptual images for many years, but how long have you been in the NFT world and what got you into it?
I would say I am fairly new to the NFT space. If I recall correctly, I started observing it during late 2020 as I found it quite fascinating. The space has a lot of room to grow, and there are plenty of interesting projects with varying features that bring about a sense of community. What I believe in the most is its capability to give power back to creators. Adding to that, I find it as an alternative space to experiment with my works differently.
How did you choose what to mint as your genesis piece?
I chose to mint “Ebb & Flow” as my genesis piece on Foundation, thanks to the support from my fellow NFT friends Leon D, and Abdulla Bin Hindi of Toyio. It is a portrayal of the daily rhythmic thought process free-flowing through our minds, with the varied stream of colors symbolizing individual thoughts that influence the choices we make as we make our way through life. Often fuzzy and chaotic, yet we move forward through the highs and lows. Parallelly, the piece symbolizes a transition to the metaverse as the streams of light teleports your very own being to the new world.
How do you see the future of NFTs and especially NFT photography?
The world of NFTs is somewhat chaotic as there are currently a lot of poorly executed projects flooding the market; I cannot simply ignore that. The relevant parties must address this in order for the perception of NFTs to change for the better.
I am sure you also have come across people who are sceptical. However, the use case of NFTs can broadly contribute to bettering transparency and accountability in the art world once certain features are refined. Perhaps, an introduction of regulatory frameworks targeting NFTs may prove to be beneficial in the future.
How do you think can blockchain technology bring more opportunities to the creative industry?
Opportunities are plenty and give room to experiment and power to create freely. For instance, creatives can create their own smart contracts with rules that protect themselves and consumers without relying on intermediaries or conventional contracts. Moreover, creatives can benefit from the peer-to-peer nature of blockchains which can streamline commissions and fees, in turn reducing costs that may incur due to intermediary management.
The public ledger nature of blockchains would also allow transactions to be transparent and auditable with ease so the likelihood of fraud occurring is minimal; certainly, it would also deter creatives from taking advantage of consumers as the data is immutable, no creative would want to tarnish their reputation. In relation, the value of creative works can also be tracked in real time, creating an efficient and dynamic matrix for creatives, consumers, or collectors to gauge supply and demand of any given work, deterring mispricing or falsely undervaluing or overvaluing works.
