About The Artist
Being a full time artist was always the dream for Yonat Vaks but she found that the practical angel on her left shoulder tended to be louder than the dreamer on her right. She went off to pursue a path in psychology and alternative therapy. The human psyche and its manifestations had always intrigued her and at the time diving deep into Freud’s writing as well as her own demons was what seemed right.
It was a long and incredible journey, learning about and experiencing the unconscious mind, its physical manifestations and our sense of reality. Over a decade later the dreamer on her right shoulder could take no more and did everything in its power to make her listen. To see sense. She packed her bags, left everything behind and got on a plane to Europe, the birth place of the Renaissance, to go after her own personal rebirth.
Yonat Vaks’s work explores the essence of humanity. How the past is connected to the present as well as the future. The connection we have to our ancestors. In 2017 she discovered Bitcoin and has been falling down the rabbit hole ever since.
The stories and culture that have been created around this revolutionary technology really caught her attention and drew her in and has become a muse for her art.
INTERVIEW 1/4
All throughout human history people have tried to find the most effective ways of passing down knowledge and wisdom. Imparting know-how and enlightenment to those around us is baked into our culture and has been a crucial part of our society for longer than “education” as we know it today has existed, by an order of magnitude. The power to share and retain knowledge better than any other species is what has brought humanity to where we are today. As Bitcoiners we know the power of the proliferation of information, like few other demographics.
Before we had the written word the easiest way to store and proliferate knowledge was via storytelling. A well-told story has the power to captivate and inspire people for thousands of years. From the days of the shaman around the evening tribal fire, a recorded, oral history of our tribes has existed. He encoded their beliefs, values, and rules into tales that brought knowledge, spiritual connectivity and ancient wisdom through entertainment. The life-or-death lessons necessary to perpetuate the community’s survival were woven into these stories.
This is also the story of Yonat Vaks, Bitcoin’s visual storyteller. Conveyor of knowledge through images.
See, Yonat is a scientist at heart. Enticed by the world of discovery she wanted to learn new things. The human psyche captured her eye and mind, especially how the two are connected. In the human psyche there is not one truth as each truth is in the eye of its beholder, she reasons.
"We are all defined by what happens to us, the stories we tell ourselves."
THE INTERVIEW 2/4
The quest to dig deeper into this fascinating world brought Yonat to dabble in studies of Philosophy, Biology and Psychology where she was quickly confronted by the ironic take of academics who seemed to have created a motto of “scientific research is not about the truth, it is about discovering something until someone proves it wrong,… except when you try to challenge our 10 year old theories which we repeat each year, then you are just crazy”
Yonat decided to explore the field of alternate therapy, particularly the usefulness of involving different states of consciousness as part of the treatment. As a true storyteller, searcher of truth and modern shaman she found there was a lot there for her to work with and dig into. She revelled in challenging long held, rigid academic theories, some well past their sell by date and some that had simply been solid-state and unchallenged for years and found that she learned more than she ever did while attending classes.
The first tenet of her exploratory journey will chime with every Bitcoiner: DYOR! Do your own research.
This was a pivotal point in her life that also challenged her own long held beliefs about which existential direction she was headed in and resulted in her trading in academics for art.
As she followed her own logic, common sense and intuition in regards to personal truth – everything that happened to her and all of the things that had defined her – was the compass that she took with her on this journey, her north star.
THE INTERVIEW 3/4
Digging deep into topics that peaked her interest she started to document the lessons she learned, mapping her journey along the way through the rabbit holes she came to explore. Not only about focusing on the specific topic but also on the various different tools and techniques used to bring that documentation to life.
Her essays are not the dry material of academic word salads and dry and unbending sterile settings where one does not allow the nuance of interpretation. No, Yonat records her findings in works of art, sometimes even transforming the subject of research into a part of the composition itself.
Art becomes research. Research becomes art. The Art of research.
"It is not about the result, but about the journey."
Her visual narration aims to open doors for us that allow us to look at current events from different perspectives, new angles. Since our perception is partially formed by the stories we tell it is important that we first listen and take note of the stories of the past.
As a true Shaman pulling on the thread of destiny Yonat uses the strengths of all of the skilled people that she found on her tapestry of life and weaves their work into the message that she brings. Physically entwining the low time preference which is so dear to our Satstacker souls into a piece of art that spans time and space.
Art Collection
#01
#03
THE INTERVIEW 4/4
"Although Bitcoin is a new thing, a lot of things have happened in the world, and are happening still."
Perhaps she was shunned by academics when she wanted to explore alternative views on the connection between mind and body but she is not afraid to share everything she discovered with us. Taking aspects of Bitcoin and connecting them to worldly events regardless of time and space. Showing us the Basque Whale hunter in each of us.
But I am no Yonat Vaks, I don’t have the words to bring to light the right image or tell her story as well as I would like. So the best way to understand her voyage is to listen to her recount the tales of her journey herself in the full interview with Max_bitbuybit.
So gather around the campfire and enjoy…