“The Smiling Disaster Girl” Zoë Roth sold her original photo for nearly $500,000

[Cindy Claveau]

In January 2005, Zoë Roth and her father Dave went to see a controlled burn - a fire intentionally started to clear a property - in their neighbourhood in Mebane, North Carolina.

Mr Roth, an amateur photographer, took a photo of his daughter smiling mischievously in front of the blaze.

After winning a photography prize in 2008, the image went viral when it was posted online.

Ms Roth has sold the original copy of her meme as a NFT for 180 Ethereum, a form of cryptocurrency, to a collector called @3FMusic.

The NFT is marked with a code that will allow the Roths - who have said they will split the profit - to keep the copyright and receive 10% of profits from future sales.

 

[Essence Lumin]

True, but that story is from May 2021.

The World Knows Her as ‘Disaster Girl.’ She Just Made $500,000 Off the Meme. (Published 2021)

Zoë Roth, now a college senior in North Carolina, plans to use the proceeds from this month’s NFT auction to pay off student loans and donate to charity.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

Wait... They control burned a house? That's a first for me. ()

 

[Casey Pelous]

Wait... They control burned a house? That's a first for me. ()

Sort of ....

In some areas it is a way to get a condemned home demolished for free -- the fire department uses it as a training exercise.