Kimiko AMA

**Who/what/where/why is Kimiko, and why did you create LMA?** I'm an artist who likes pop culture and cats. We created LMA so that we could build a cool protocol. The NFTs were just something that came with the idea. Building something together was what sparked it all. And now the grrlz themselves have become a big part of this. So cool! **The mint experience was hella enjoyable - can we expect more cool stuff like that?** Yeah, we will switch up things on the website once in a while. And there will be some things added once the library is functioning as well. Essentially, if something needs to be done, it will happen through the room/website. **From the bedroom - can you talk about the different posters and other elements chosen. Is this a fair representation of how you were as a teen? If so, have you changed much since then? And how?** The posters were selected by the whole team. We just wanted to create an aesthetic. We've all had at least some of these posters/pictures on our walls at some point in our lives, yes. Others are just meant to evoke a feeling. I've changed quite a bit since I was a teenager. I'm less angry and less reactive. Although I think my art and productivity are where I seem to channel that energy. So maybe it would all return if I stopped working lol. **Can we have regular LMA bully block tweets (perhaps community suggestions for them?) ** Yeah, maybe we could make this open to the community so that they can have some support if they see someone getting bullied on twitter. **As we know, the mint blew up and sold out in minutes. As an artist, what was that experience like for you?** It is awesome, yes! Although it was difficult to enjoy because it was sort of made out to be something significant from the start. I think people wanted us to do a dance for them and they sort of didn't realize what kind of project this was from the start. Some people (not all of them) don't really care about anything aside from the $$ and it can be a little frustrating. But we get it. I have no problem with discussions about floor price and I have no problem with people hoping that the value of their LMA tokens will go up. I just don't like when people are rude/harsh/demanding. Aside from that, there's so many people who tell me that they resonate with the art and they use them as their pfps. That's always awesome! We really appreciate the people who are still hanging out in the discord now, or the holding onto their NFT because they genuinely like it!" **Can you describe the experience of minting out a successful project right around the same time of a crash? Has the bear market talk affected you in any way, positive or negative?** I don't know that it evoked a feeling really. We were really confused that it minted out so quickly because we did almost no marketing and our server was really small. We still don't know how people found out about it lol. I think that minting in a crashing market brings a certain type of emotion out of consumers. They need everything they buy to 100x their investment. I'm sure there is a plethora of psychological reasons as to why this happens. We don't have to get into those though. The art is for people who like it. People who like pop culture. People who like cute stuff. People who collect things. We don't let the bear market talk get to us. We just build. We will do everything that we promised to do. If anyone wants to speculate or try to get us to be something that we're not...that is on them. ❤️ **As a queer person, I personally identify a lot with the artwork in the collection. Was this intentional? I'm basically asking you if LEAVE ME ALONE!!! is as queer as I perceive it to be :)** Inclusivity is important to us. Our team is very diverse and we wanted to make sure that people from all different cultures and groups felt represented here. That part was intentional! It's so awesome that you feel that you can identify with some of the LMA traits. Hopefully others feel that way too!" **Your 1/1s are truly iconic, I identify with them in every single way. Can you talk about the process of choosing and creating the 1/1s at all? ** Honestly it was just about finding some iconic women and/or non-binary and/or fluid people and giving them a place in the collection. Some have a historical significance and others are just cool! Some of the one of ones are just meant to be cute though like the little angel and the devil. **There is a clear, feminist artistic and literary influence in LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Why did you go in that direction? ** It's just a message that is important to us really. We didn't really discuss it much. It came out in the art and then we embraced it. We embrace these ideas IRL and figured we should do it in web3 as well. . **On that note, speaking of literary influence, can you share anything about the library project? ** The Web3 Library of Alexandria will be a place where any media content can be stored, for the entire lifespan of the Ethereum network. We believe that the economic incentive for keeping its lights on (at least until such a time that it can be replaced) has passed a critical threshold, and has become one of the safest places to store valuable information in a permanent way. **What are your plans for LEAVE ME ALONE!!!??? :)** To build a library and to meet cool people. Anything else will be played by ear! **is there a direction for the library? topics or stuff that history should remember?** Nope! It's whatever you want it to be! We will likely pick focuses with the things that we want to upload but there aren't any restrictions!" **Who are some artists that inspire you? ** Yayoi Kusama, Agnes Varda, Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Baldwin .**1. does the LMA NFT have utilities related to the developing project ? 2. a rough timeline for the project maybe? 3. what is your marketing plan ? ** Leave Me Alone token holders will be able to curate (by vote) specific content from the Library of Alexandria to be published as ERC-1155 tokens. These tokens will have criteria (such as collection cap or mint time window) set by the governance process. We also will attempt to secure partnerships with prolific freedom fighters and luminaries, storing important cultural media from them on-chain, and allocating special editions to Leave Me Alone token holders. We aren't really into timelines but we promise we'll do it lol. We'll market the library a bit through our own personal networks once its completed and functioning. We're never going to sell our souls and dance for anyone. We'll share it with people that we think will like it. Word of mouth will play an important role in everything. .**What inspired you to create the library?** fahrenheit 451 **Is this a full-time or part-time project for you right now? ** Part time. I work a regular job and the rest of the team are all full time devs/engineers. This is a passion project and we barely made anything on it. Enough to pay some bills for the time we took/are taking away from obligations. The rest goes into the building. And we donated approx $75k to charity. But basically the reason its not full time is because we can't live off it - because we're not trying to. It's not that kind of thing **What was the first NFT you bought, and why?** cyberkongz because they're cute **What the most recent NFT you bought, and why?** i haven't really bought anything recently. The last nft I bought was a Boki because it was cute. .**I sense you have a passion to help and recognise the underdog, the disenfranchised, the bullied. Can you talk about that - were you bullied yourself and why did you donate the 42 ETH (very cool btw!) to an anti-bullying charity specifically** I was bullied yes. Anyone who has ever been bullied understands the powerless feeling that consumes you in those situations. When you look back and think about how that's mostly happening to kids (sometimes very kind and sensitive kids) it can be heartbreaking. Of course, people get bullied at all ages by all different types of people. Especially in corporate worlds or in business. Fuck bullies honestly. We donated the eth because we didn't need it and wanted to give it to a good cause. We charged what we needed for the mint and felt that the extra should go somewhere that deserved it. **If you could sit down with the Kimiko of the age of the LMA characters what advice or message would you give to her?** I have not actually considered what age these characters are. Maybe late teens? I'd tell myself to go outside more and to not spend so much time worrying about anxiety. .**Did you create all the art for LMA or were you collabing with others? If you're an artist, what other stuff do you like to create and what's your background** All of the art was done by me. I dont really show people my art that much IRL tbh. I just do it for me mostly. I just doodle and draw in my sketch books. My background is in journalism although I don't really write that much nowadays! ** What's your thoughts on the good and bad sides of Cryptos and NFTS - are they a force for good generally and why? ** I think that right now most of the people in the NFT space are here because they heard they could get rich. Some of these people bring along with them a mouth full of entitlement. They're annoying. The good thing about the space is the community building that is happening across the board. So many really cool, sweet people forming friendships and building together. That's so cool **Can you share your favourite NFT creators / series / art? ** I think my favorite NFT project is probably DeeKay's LetsWalk **What book(s) are you currently reading? ** Nothing at the moment! Hoping to re-read The Sandman soon **I presume from your cultural leanings and references you're a child of the 90s? or thereabouts. What was it like then? How do you feel things have changed since then?** We were mostly born in the 80s & 90s. A few of us were born in the late 70s. Everything has changed since then. Mostly the internet. There was a lot more human interaction. Pop culture was important. I feel like kids born after 2000 kinda stopped caring about the pop culture from prior generations." **Do you like cats? :)** VERY MUCH. .**What other causes or issues are close to your heart? ** We are a pretty empathetic group of people. We'd like to support any cause that looks out for underrepresented communities. Also, I dont think enough people in the world are paying attention to our global climate and how that is affecting agriculture, wildlife and people's lifestyles in certain parts of the world. **LMA twitter has "diversity. inclusivity. decentralization" at it's core. Aren't the first two contradictory or at least pulling in different directions? Why were these picked as the motto? ** No I dont think they're contradictory at all. Diversity is about making sure that all types of people are represented. Inclusvity is about making sure that all types of people have access to opportunities regardless of who they are or where they come from. We didn't really pick it as a motto. We were just looking for some adjectives that described the way we operate and those seemed to be the best fit. **Thank you for the series Kimiko, you're awesome! Did you touch grass today? :D** No I didn't but I should! Thanks for being so nice 🙂 **Can you share some of your favourite female NFT creators, devs, artists? Still think women are heavily under-represented in the space :(** Josie Bellini is probably the coolest person in the space. And I don't mean the coolest female person. I mean the coolest person out of everyone. **Who would you love to collab with? What / how would you like to see the collab work? ** omg deekay notice me please. I'm not sure how that would work. maybe some grrlz marching towards a riot or a protest or something.

AMA compiled by paultm.q00t.eth