5 Things You Need To Know About Travis LeRoy Southworth’s "Soft Eulogies: Portraits from the Mempool"

Artists

by

Eleonora Brizi

|

April 20, 2026

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1. About the Project

Soft Eulogies: Portraits from the Mempool is a generative series of 10,080 portraits, one for every minute of a week.

Each work functions as a quiet vigil for everything declared “dead” in our feeds, markets, and lives.

Every work is generated from a real Bitcoin transaction: a continuous line draws for the exact duration of its confirmation time, forming a minimal skull portrait with a phrase like “[something] is dead.”

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2. What Makes It Unique

Each portrait unfolds as a time-based drawing, where a continuous line wraps around one of 21 skull profiles, referencing both coin iconography and Bitcoin’s 21M cap.

The composition is shaped by transaction data, including fees, value, and inputs, producing subtle variations in density, color, and complexity.

Everyday phrases like “X is dead” are turned into persistent on-chain memorials.

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3. How the Drop Works

10,080 works

Released over 7 weeks:

Each work is assigned to one of 7 domains: Light, Code, Earth, Time, Media, Society, Rest, unfolding like a reverse Genesis narrative, where each represents a different part of life being declared “dead.”

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4. Why Collectors Should Care

This project is fully on-chain, turning Bitcoin transactions into drawings and making visible the time and computation behind the network.

Portraiture becomes a record of time, data, and value, not just image.

At the same time, it offers an ironic take on a culture where everything is constantly declared “dead,” turning these casual statements into lasting, on-chain memorials.

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5. Personal Recommendation

"Southworth has been working with blockchain since the early days, with a practice that is also attentive to language. Titles and structures are carefully constructed, often based on conceptual frameworks.

In Soft Eulogies, language becomes the starting point, turning familiar online phrases into the foundation of the work."

— Eleonora Brizi

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Keep in Mind

  1. 10,080 works, one per minute of a week
  2. Each portrait is tied to a real Bitcoin transaction
  3. Drawing time reflects transaction confirmation time
  4. “X is dead” phrases become on-chain memorials
  5. Structured as a reverse Genesis narrative

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