Social:Disaster Girl
Disaster Girl is a widely shared photograph of a young girl staring into the camera while a house burns behind her.[1][2][3]
The girl in the photo, Zoë Roth, was four years old when the photo was taken in 2005.[4] It was sold for $470,000 as an NFT at auction on April 29, 2021.[5]
The Roth family lived near a fire station in Mebane, North Carolina, and as they watched a house being burned for training, Zoë's father, an amateur photographer, took her picture as she smiled in a way that suggested she had started the fire and was happy about it. Her father entered it into a photo contest in 2007 and it won.[1] The photo became famous in 2008 when it won an Emotion Capture contest in JPG magazine.[6] Zoë had given permission to use the image in educational material, but the photo had been used hundreds of times for various purposes without the Roths having control. After receiving an email in February 2021 suggesting she sell the meme as an NFT for as much as "six figures", Roth decided to sell an NFT of the photo.[6] On April 17, 2021, Roth sold the NFT for the equivalent of US$486,716 to a collector identified only as @3FMusic.[7] The family retained copyright over the work,[1] as well as an entitlement to 10 percent of proceeds when the NFT is resold.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fazio, Marie (April 29, 2021). "The World Knows Her as 'Disaster Girl.' She Just Made $500,000 Off the Meme.". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/arts/disaster-girl-meme-nft.html.
- ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (April 29, 2021). "'Disaster Girl' has sold her popular meme as an NFT for $500,000". https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/29/22410070/disaster-girl-popular-meme-nft-500000-dollars.
- ↑ Pritchard, Will. "They were ancient internet memes. Now NFTs are making them rich". Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/nft-memes-2010s.
- ↑ Cost, Ben; Grace, Asia (April 28, 2021). "'Disaster Girl' selling original photo behind viral meme for $473K" (in en-US). https://nypost.com/2021/04/28/disaster-girl-selling-original-photo-behind-viral-meme/.
- ↑ "Zoë Roth sells 'Disaster Girl' meme as NFT for $500,000". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56948514.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Ellis, Maddie (April 27, 2021). "After years as a meme, 'Disaster Girl' takes control of her image — with a hefty payoff". News & Observer. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article250944639.html. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
- ↑ "'Disaster Girl,' now 21, cashes in on NFT of her meme". WRIC-TV. April 27, 2021. https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/disaster-girl-now-21-cashes-in-on-nft-of-her-meme/. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
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