Eye for an eye: Javier Bardem iris NFT sold for sight charity | Global development
An eye for an eye, or in this case, help for thousands of eyes in exchange for the image of one like a close-up of Javier Bardem’s iris, is being auctioned for an organization that restores sight to people in developing countries.
“Being able to see, hear, touch, feel: these are things we don’t really appreciate until we lose them,” said the Oscar-winning actor. “Regaining access to all that you feel through seeing, which has such an impact on our emotions and sensibility, is an emotional and spiritual transformation.”
He said that is why he has donated the striking image to Ojos del Mundo (Eyes of the World), which will auction the photograph as part of a new fundraising campaign, Iris of the World.
Founded in Barcelona in 2001, Ojos del Mundo is dedicated to treating avoidable blindness – such as cataracts – through direct intervention and by training local people to continue the work, with projects treating Sahrawis in refugee camps in Algeria, as well as in Mali, Bolivia and Mozambique.
Over the past 20 years, it has restored the sight of more than 37,000 people and trained 13,000 Indigenous specialists.
The image will be sold as a unique digital non-fungible token (NFT) and a photographic print authenticated by the actor.
At the launch of the campaign, Anna Barba, director of Ojos del Mundo, said that in addition to raising money, the foundation wanted to raise awareness of preventable blindness, adding that 90% of visually impaired people live in the world’s poorest regions, and 55 % are women.
“Javier has been very generous in sharing with us something as personal and exclusive as his iris. It is a mark of identity that has borne witness to special moments that can now become part of anyone who offers this inspiring and original photograph. Javier’s eyes will open other eyes.”
According to the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, 161 million people suffer from uncorrected vision, of which 100 million have operable cataracts. Another 510 million are short-sighted.
Ojos del Mundo was reluctant to speculate on how much it hoped the auction could raise, but said even the reserve price of €9,000 (£7,850) would pay for 1,300 eye tests; €30,000 would fund four years of training for an ophthalmologist; and €50,000 would cover the cost of 715 cataract operations.
Bardem, 53, rose to fame in the 1992 film Jamón Jamón, in which he starred opposite a teenage Penélope Cruz.
The Spanish actor won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men and went on to play Raoul Silva, the villain in the James Bond film Skyfall.
He married fellow Oscar winner Cruz in 2010, and the couple have supported a number of charities, donating money to help rebuild homes after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as raising funds for the Open Arms Project, which rescues people crossing the Mediterranean.
Ojos del Mundo said they hoped to repeat the auction if it was a success and were looking for an international sports figure as their next donor.
The auction will take place online at www.irisdelmundo.org from noon CET/BST on September 29 until 18.00 6 October.
