Each March, Women’s History Month spotlights women for their creative contributions, innovative pursuits, and the trails they’ve blazed. 

At OpenSea, this has included everything from spotlighting women-led collections to exclusive interviews with some of the leading women in the web3 space. This month, we’ve spoken to Maliha Abidi and Women Rise as the team continues championing girls' education through VR for students in Pakistani schools, and interviewed Boss Beauties’ CEO and founder, Lisa Mayer, about how she bridges the gap between her NFT collection and the traditional publishing world.

But the month isn't over yet! And just like women's innovation, our coverage of women artists and founders continues. To commemorate the last week of Women's History Month, below we spotlight the nine notable collections we featured this month on OpenSea’s homepage and their impact on the NFT space.

Perils of Sese by All Seeing Seneca 

Perils of Sese is a generative art collection by artist, All Seeing Seneca, who is best known for her paintings and characters of “cosmic horror and candyland.” Muted, yet illuminating palettes and expressions of surrealism are a hallmark of her artwork, inspired by her love for “the macabre, animation, and iconography.” 

Her first NFT collection was a series of 4 and was shown most recently at her first solo auction of a series of works with Phillips Auction House. Her images have since sold at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. She was also a featured artist in PROOF’s Grails: Season III, as well as named one of Coindesk’s most influential artists of 2021. Rolling Stone magazine wrote that “her creativity helped fuel a technological revolution,” lauding her contributions as lead designer of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which rocked the NFT world when it launched in April 2021.

In Perils of Sese, each NFT includes a standalone painting with three additional “bloom” details that, as Seneca describes them, will blossom at different times in the NFT’s lifespan. Seneca drew inspiration for the collection’s artistic style and illustrative design from storybooks and the characters and visuals that bring each page alive. 

In this collection, Seneca specifically brought to life one child protagonist and three unique creatures that stand in for Sigmund Freud’s three-part explainer for a person’s instinct, sense of self, and impulse control — respectively known as the id, the ego, and the superego. The collection is unique because it uses an ERC-7160 token standard, which allows NFT holders to “pin” their favorite version of their NFT since this type of NFT can hold multiple pieces of metadata simultaneously. In simple terms, this means that an owner gets to choose the physical appearance of their NFT. 

In an interview with OpenSea, Marco Peyfuss, co-founder of Transient Labs and co-author of the ERC-7160 standard explained, “Typically, projects are forced to just change metadata if they want to provide some sort of evolution or storytelling process. This can cause friction with collectors as their token is forcibly changed and there is no way to go back to the previous state. ERC-7160 solves this as the collector has ultimate ownership of the [item] and can choose to display any state that the token has ever held. It also opens the opportunity to tell stories on individual tokens rather than the entire collection at once. This provides for a deeper relationship between creators and collectors.”

Postcards by Mae

Visual artist Mae (or Eniosta, as she is known online) created Postcards by Mae as a love letter to her web3 community. Known for her romantic, immersive 3D dreamscapes, Mae turned to her signature pastel palette to bring to life 12 editions that could be minted during a specific window of time. Each NFT offers a different peaceful world to escape to while also living up to Mae’s community mission. As she explains, “I started postcards for a number of reasons…to play by my own rules for a change and to just have some fun with the community that I feel most myself in.” 

In addition to being proud owners of a postcard by Mae, holders had the chance to unlock other redeemable perks from the collection, depending on how many NFTs they owned. Those rewards included free prints, additional second editions, and a custom 1/1 piece by Mae. 

Women Rise by Maliha Abidi

Pakistani-American artist Maliha Abidi released Women Rise, a 10,000-item NFT collection, in 2021. Upon its release, the collection became one of the first women-led collections to gain attention within the web3 world. The profile picture collection is full of hand-drawn traits that come together to create the PFP’s background colors, colorful hair, and outfits. Each NFT showcases a woman in bold colors and dressed in outfits representing various careers, from astronauts to doctors.

It’s been over two years since Women Rise first sold out in January 2022 and raised $120,000 for gender equity organizations such as the Malala Fund. Not surprisingly, Abidi and her team have been keeping busy channeling resources from ongoing art sales and philanthropic partnerships into projects that promote girls’ education, including their latest program, BackpackX.

Abidi spoke to OpenSea about the new program, BackpackX, a virtual reality (VR) education program that brings VR headsets into Pakistan’s classrooms. Deeply saddened by the climate catastrophe, Abidi saw an opportunity to inspire younger generations to find solutions. Despite contributing less than 1% to global greenhouse gas emissions, Pakistan faces severe long-term impacts from climate change that tomorrow’s youth will inevitably have to overcome.

In late October 2023, Abidi and her co-founder Aski Hassan visited Karachi and conducted workshops at schools run by Zindagi Trust, starting with SMB Fatima Jinnah School and then moving to Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government Girls School.

Later, the team participated in a panel discussion in Karachi and a university event at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) that focused on the future of learning and EdTech. 

Together, the project engaged a total of 70 students ages 12 to 15, along with 30 staff members across both schools. The students experienced a four-minute virtual reality (VR) animation that presented existing solutions to climate change.

“I firmly believe in amplifying the work of grassroots community leaders rather than intervening directly,” said Abidi. “It makes more sense to empower those who understand their community's needs. By amplifying and empowering these communities, we go a long way.”

Eat The Scroll by Nadya Tolokonnikova

Nadya Tolokonnikova rose to fame years before releasing her first NFT collection. Tolokonnikova is the founder of the anti-establishment punk collective Pussy Riot, which has openly used art to critique the Russian government, amongst others. As a web3 artist, Tolokonnikova has also used NFTs as a new avenue for self-expression and activism. 

Her Eat The Scroll collection was created in 2017 to comment on President Donald Trump’s election to office. It was first minted in 2022 as a part of PROOF’s Grails II NFT collection, which featured 25 artists. In the piece, Tolokonnikova’s scroll is the Bible, and she encourages “right-wing extremists to eat their verses instead of harming women and LGBTQIA+ bodies.” As the NFT’s description explains, “The artwork reflects on some questionable elements in biblical writings on which a number of known right-wing politicians still base their misogynist and homophobic law-making practices.” 

The piece is one of the earliest examples of Tolokonnikova’s use of NFTs for her advocacy work. 

Keepers of the Inn by Julie Pacino 

Filmmaker and photographer Julie Pacino’s Keepers of the Inn NFT collection is tied to her first NFT collection, I Live Here Now. In I Live Her Now, 100 1/1 NFT photographs told the story of characters at the Madonna Inn. The collection’s success and popularity inspired Pacino to use the NFT collection as the basis for a feature film’s script. 

Keepers of the Inn is a 3,356-item NFT collection that shows a behind-the-scenes look at a rehearsal for the film through captured stills on set. Holders could participate in the movie’s creative process, including 1:1 calls with Pacino. The feature film is set to be released in 2024.

Visual Diary by DRAWMAMA 

Visual artist DRAWMAMA wanted her NFT collection, Visual Diary, to speak to the “ebbs and flows of womanhood and motherhood.” The 17 illustrations jump between scenes of a woman sitting amidst the leaves and evergreen to those of a woman holding more than one of her heads while her legs fall down a hole. 

The self-portrait project explores how DRAWMAMA sees herself but also explains that the project “becomes a narrative for every individual who indeed declares daily life as a statement of an identity.”

The Flower Girls by Varvara Aly

A Flower Girl NFT is full of bright colors, flying creatures, and the face of a woman. Each NFT is as beautiful and majestic as illustrator Varvara Aly intended it to be. The collection contains 10,000 items, and each NFT is generated from over 950 hand-drawn elements. Holders of more than one Flower Girl can combine (or “cross-pollinate”) their NFTs to create new Flower Girls. The new NFT can unlock additional utilities.

As an artist, Aly is pulled towards nature as a source of inspiration. Her collection, Birds of Solis, is another example of using birds, nature, and bold colors in her work. 

You by BFF by Boss Beauties

BFF is a community of women whose mission is to empower other women and non-binary individuals to become well-versed in web3 technology. The community was started in January 2022 with an airdrop of 8,444 friendship bracelets, which played off the beloved middle-grade “BFF” bracelet concept. 

The You by BFF collection was the community’s first PFP collection. Artist Jade Purple Brown designed the rainbow-filled avatars that show women’s profiles with different accessories, from hats to glasses to colorful manicures. 

In 2023, the founders of BFF, Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, announced that fellow female-led NFT brand, Boss Beauties, had acquired BFF. The press release read, “This partnership marks a significant milestone in our mission to educate, connect and empower women in Web3 and create a massive community of friends learning together online and in real life (IRL). Boss Beauties shares this commitment, and together we’re poised to create an even more lasting business that will continue to serve our community.”

Cosmic Cuties by Jen Stark

Los Angeles-based artist Jen Stark released her Cosmic Cuties collection in 2022. The 333-item PFP collection utilizes fun colors and kaleidoscope effects to bring the Cosmic Cuties to life. 

In Stark’s words, the collection is meant to “radiate positive vibrations that will guide you to realize the infinite potential within.” 

Stark is known for combining bold colors, strong lines, and movement in her work since her first NFT, a 1-of-1 titled Multiverse.