Portraits of a Mind aims to decentralise the original codebase behind Bitcoin into 40 fragments. Each of the 40 paintings and NFTs holds exactly 322,048 digits of Satoshi Nakamoto’s original code. Once distributed globally, these 40 fragments of the code will decentralise the artwork — drawing up a global network of collectors, where no one central authority will hold all the code.
The work is a symbolic expression of Satoshi’s vision, forged out of the very code that lies at the genesis of it all. A digital fingerprint carved out of paint, Portraits of a Mind explores the multi-faceted identities of Satoshi Nakamoto, in turn reflecting on the nature of both identity and portraiture in a newly decentralised age. From Julius Caesar’s Rome to exact coordinates of Hal Finney at the time of the first BTC transaction, these 40 locations together form their own network, covering 5,000 years of human history and act as proxies for the ideas, movements and people that fed into Satoshi Nakamoto’s revolutionary creation.