#gaysofinstagram

It is still too early to tell how much Instagram has influenced our culture’s sense of aesthetics. What was once a photo-sharing app is now something more akin to a digital mall. With clean white lines with impeccable lighting, Instagram has flattened our sense of aesthetics in what some have described as the “tyranny of terrazzo”. But what is also interesting to consider is how not only has Instagram flattened the aesthetics of design, but also the aesthetics of persons and identity.

There is a proven through-line between Instagram use and negative body feelings, which obviously affects women the most directly. However, I am interested in the aesthetics of masculine queer people. Queer people have the freedom and maybe even the expectation of challenging the status quo and are able to fluidly move between gendered expectations. But when one needs to present themselves on Instagram, they must match these flattened expectations. Instagram is a digital mall. They become another product for sale.

In my series #gaysofinstagram, I mean to question the subtext of images and their potential ramifications of what the social media algorithm has presented to society. Collecting footage from several different pages, hashtags, and recommendations, I overlay several of these feeds over each other, with a new feed introduced every 30 seconds. Audio from LGBT-themed podcasts are used as these visual feeds capture a certain aesthetic of what a gay male should look like, the audio portion captures what a gay male is expected to sound like.