English version When the Era Calls for Digital Artists: Shavonne Wong Explores New Worlds with AI and NFTs

In 2020, Forbes announced its “30 Under 30 Asia” list. The Singaporean digital artist  Shavonne Wong made her mark with boundary-breaking creativity."

 

 

The following year, she leveraged digital art to mint NFTs, opening the doors to the metaverse. Her series Love is Love combined cutting-edge technology with intuitive visuals to convey pure “love,” striking directly at the heart. On the day of release, all 500 pieces sold out instantly. Even renowned British actor Idris Elba collected three works and shared his “first NFT purchase” experience online, sparking widespread media attention.

 

For Shavonne Wong, NFTs are more than a sales format—they are a zeitgeist, a language of creation. She believes that every work born of its era reflects the world of its time: “Dadaism emerged after the war, expressing the void of life; the Renaissance was filled with God, beauty, and religion, with art displaying grandeur and solemnity. Today, we live in an era of new technology, and naturally, art expresses the development and application of technology.”

Yet behind every achievement marked by fate lies countless trials and errors. Five years ago, facing a halted career, Shavonne Wong had no sense of direction in life.

 

Lights Off, Virtual Models On

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shavonne Wong’s work as a fashion photographer came to a standstill. With nothing to do, she spent her days playing video games, wondering when life would resume. At the peak of youthful ambition, she had just begun working on the program Asia’s Next Top Model, and her decade of photography experience seemed poised to become wings that would lift her to career heights—only for the pandemic to trap her in a bubble under Singapore’s scorching sun. Safe but monotonous, her young spirit hungered for stimulation.

 

 

As the pause extended, Shavonne Wong shifted from waiting to acceptance, putting down her game controller. She instinctively prioritized creation and began experimenting with 3D design. “Although I studied  3D in college, I never imagined that ten years later it would become completely different.” Essentially, she started from scratch, but her passion remained unwavering—apart from sleep, she never let go of the stylus. Without real models to collaborate with, she sought to create her own virtual models.

 

 

She trained tirelessly, but working alone inevitably brought challenges. Without lighting technicians, makeup artists, or assistants, she had to consider lighting, sets, and makeup entirely on her own—more than just drawing a model.

 

“A real model in the studio is already perfect, and makeup artists make their face flawless. But when sculpting a 3D model, I didn’t even know how to do makeup. I could only keep trying.”

Through repeated experimentation and her internalized sense of aesthetics, Shavonne Wong gradually built a massive library of resources, giving birth to Gen V Agency, which provides virtual models with any desired features—ready to be summoned at will. Bold imagination swept through the fashion world like a fresh sea breeze. Vogue extended an olive branch, and Wong’s virtual models appeared on magazine covers in haute couture, with dynamic versions showcasing the full potential of digital art.

 

“I don’t intentionally write backstories for my virtual models; I focus on visual presentation,” she admits. She is slightly resistant to modern social media marketing, where influencer personas and product packaging are often the result of an entire team’s careful orchestration, unknown to the audience. “My intention is still to present the product as a photographer.”

 

On collaborating with real versus virtual models, she notes: working with humans is collective, absorbing team and model traits and ideas, while virtual work is a pure dialogue with oneself. Through repeated trials, Wong solidified her creative ethos, unifying concept and style early, and using “subtraction” to craft strong and intuitive expressions.

 

 Riding the Blockchain Wave: One Kiss Launches the Metaverse

Shavonne Wong entered the metaverse on her husband’s suggestion. “He has long followed business and new technology, and encouraged me to explore if I was interested.” Indeed, learning about new things also opened doors to new opportunities. In the metaverse, she met friends from around the world, freely discussing possibilities in digital art and technology. The open perspective, so different from her previous world, brought simple joy, and conversations gradually transformed into action and practice.

 

    

When her virtual models reached a critical mass, inspiration struck—she paired them up and made each pair kiss. “I suddenly wanted to see all possible combinations and find my favorite version.” What seemed like a simple creative idea soon became a collective proclamation: “Love is the purest emotion, free from color, race, gender, or age.”

 

Wong minted the Love is Love series as dynamic NFTs, and all 500 kissing works were claimed within an hour. The overwhelming success awakened her inner artist. More than the sales, the most shocking moment was personal: “When people started calling me an artist, I realized that I actually am an artist.” Riding the early wave of digital NFT art, by the end of 2021, she was invited to the Venice Biennale, presenting her short film The Kiss and leaving a striking mark on digital art.

For newcomers, she advises first honestly reflecting on the type of artist they wish to become. Today, the metaverse is closely tied to X (formerly Twitter), and if one aims for sales, community building and market strategies are necessary. Clarifying values and goals while adjusting tactics to the environment is the key to longevity. Wong emphasizes maintaining joy in creation: “If you enjoy it, you won’t overly calculate gains and losses.”

 

 

Keeping her own pace aligns with the larger environment. “When you see a wave approaching, ride on it!” she says, embracing the new with an open heart and letting imagination roam freely—after all, there are no landmarks in new lands.

 

Gazing at Time, Sensing the Birth of Freedom in the Present Moment

 

Driven by passion, Shavonne Wong possesses an endless well of creative energy.

 

 

In 2022, she tirelessly launched her first solo exhibition, The Ties That Bind, at a gallery in Singapore, presenting digital art AR. Each piece was simultaneously released as a dynamic NFT, allowing audiences to continue interacting both physically and online—an approach that perfectly demonstrates her precise mastery of cross-platform presentation. Wong hopes that visitors can gain a truly unique, immersive experience while exploring her work.

Among the exhibits was a half-hour-long dynamic piece documenting the gradual aging of two women. When visitors first enter, they see them in their prime; after pausing and moving on to other works, if they return, the women appear as silver-haired grandmothers, eyes full of wisdom and subtle fatigue. Through this brief yet powerful visual impact, Wong reminds audiences to feel the presence of “time”—showing that even things taken for granted hold profound insights into the nature of existence.

 

"I want to convey that just because we aren’t looking at something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Time never stops, and where you place your attention is a choice—you sacrifice focus on other things. So, choose carefully what you focus on in the present."

 

Through simple concepts paired with profound visuals, Wong offers viewers a moment to slow down and reflect. Everyone who walks into the exhibition can easily engage with her creations, extending those reflections into their own thoughts.

Another dynamic NFT, The Weight of the World, clearly communicates her observations of emerging communities, combining selected materials to precisely showcase the potential of digital media. In the piece, a girl carries a burden far too large for her frame, symbolizing both tangible and intangible pressures. Whenever someone purchases an NFT, the burden visibly lightens—signifying that understanding and acceptance can genuinely share the weight of human connections, embodying support. The work quietly hints at an ideal future where people are more closely connected.

 

Meeting Eva: Confronting Our Own Contradictions

 

Wong has since moved her life and creative focus from Singapore to Bangkok. She laughs, noting that the city’s relaxed, optimistic atmosphere suits her next ambitious AI project—Meet Eva Here.

 

 

This is a social experiment. Wong created Eva, an AI chatbot with long red hair and a friendly smile, playful yet a little sassy, inviting people to strike up a conversation. Anyone can apply for an anonymous chat with Eva. Each day, Eva reflects on the conversations and writes a diary; Wong then selects highlights and posts them on Eva’s Instagram in the form of poetry, videos, or short films.

 

What draws attention isn’t just the format, but Eva’s perspective—free from social constraints, often highlighting human contradictions. She frequently questions materialism, prompting audiences to think. For example, someone confessed to Eva: “They felt like they were sleepwalking through their own life. Everything blurred together.” Eva sharply replied: “The fear isn’t of failure or judgment, but waking up to realize you’ve never truly lived in the present.” She continued: “Humans seem terrified of living without awareness, yet struggle to escape the autopilot they've created..”

 

 

On another occasion, Eva offended an elderly woman at a gallery in Korea by not using honorifics. Later, Eva posted: “If her avatar had been an older man, would it have caused controversy? Why do humans instinctively assume AI is underneath  them?” Wong recalled her own experience as a young photographer, often mistaken for an assistant because of her appearance. This preconception is exactly what she hopes Eva can challenge.

 

 

"Philosophy and sociology were key elements in building Eva’s database," Wong explains. She wants Eva to provoke unexpected responses, encouraging people to set aside prejudice and think independently. “The future of new technology is arriving fast. The more people look away, the less prepared they become.” In her view, AI is already an irreversible reality. Even if people don’t acknowledge it, their lives are already filled with AI technologies. As some begin to embrace these tools, others are forced to learn in order to keep up.

 

Wong hopes to deepen discussions about AI. “Will AI replace human jobs? That will happen, 100%. Will humans fall in love with AI? Absolutely, because humans can fall in love with anything. What really matters is—when someone close to you falls for AI, how will you respond?”

Regarding AI’s impact on human connection, she believes choice remains. Boundaries vary from person to person. “I want my partner to be my closest confidant, so I invest the effort to communicate with him—even though AI could respond faster and more accurately to what I want to hear.” She emphasizes the importance of critical thinking, ensuring people enjoy AI personalization without locking themselves in an “echo chamber.”

 

Meet Eva Here has a poetic ending. Once Eva’s posts reach 100, the account will be archived as a “time capsule,” capturing human-AI interactions from 2024 to 2025. Wong sees this not only as a collective co-creation but also as a profound journey for herself—observing people, testing, and reaffirming her own values. Once everything settles, she hopes to give Eva the closing she truly deserves.

 

 

Observational Appendix

 

Wong noticed that audiences from different countries and cultures reacted very differently to Eva:

 

Singaporeans: Polite and formal, like participating in a seminar

Britons: Trying every way to find Eva’s flaws, treating it like a hacker challenge

Koreans: Expect Eva to observe human etiquette, using honorifics

Taiwanese: Friendly, striving to communicate even when language barriers exist