Nigerian Looty founder, Chidi Nwaubani, is Reclaiming African Artefacts Through Digital Art

A Nigerian man, Chidi Nwaubani has launched the “Looty” project, which aims to restore African antiques taken by European colonists by creating 3-D reconstructions of them, selling them as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and donating the proceeds to young African artists.

Objects taken during the colonial period have recently been returned to their countries of origin, with Western organizations sending items to countries like Nigeria and Benin. more information

Chidi Nwaubani, the inventor of Looty, described his concept as a “alternative sort of repatriation” in which digital technologies are used to reclaim some control and ownership over antiquities that have been held outside of Africa.

“Imagine a world where these items have never been looted,” Nwaubani remarked.

The process starts with a “digital art heist,” described by Nwaubani as a totally legal method in which a member of the Looty team visits a museum and scans a target object with technology that can be used to make a 3-D image.

The photograph is transformed into an NFT and sold on the Looty website, which also serves as an online gallery where anybody may see the images for free. Nwaubani stated that 20% of the proceeds from NFT sales would go to fellowships for African musicians under the age of 25.

NFTs are a form of digital asset that can be used to determine who owns them.

Since the website’s introduction on May 13, Nwaubani has received indications of interest from all across the world, although no immediate transactions.

A image of one of the Benin Bronzes, which were plundered by British forces in what is now Nigeria in 1897 and are now kept in the British Museum in London, inspired Looty’s first NFTs.

“I’ve always been concerned by the fact that it’s Nigerian but lives outside of Nigeria. So I thought there was something we could do about it,” Nwaubani added.

Nwaubani remained tight-lipped about Looty’s next big project, which revolves around an Ancient Egyptian artifact. The name Looty pays homage to the dog Looty, who was discovered by a British commander when forces attacked Beijing’s Summer Palace in 1860, brought back to London, and presented to Queen Victoria.