Does art belong on instagram?

Meditations on choices we have.

Picture yourself walking through a shopping mall, how does being there make you feel? When you look around what do you see? What do you smell? What is the general mood of the other patrons of said shopping mall? When you leave the shopping mall, how do you feel?

Art is not generally found there. The intricacies of human creation are not really able to thrive in an environment like that, one that was created for bridging the gap between corporations and consumers. As far as our options for online platforms go, instagram feels closest to a shopping mall, a place of commerce. Art requires relinquishing the need to engage in the profiteering off oneself and the channeling of emotion that lies deeper in the consciousness. Therefore, instagram’s landscape, sterile and air-conditioned, created with the purpose of profit, can’t contain the fertile ground that art requires to grow.

I am by no means the first person to reach this conclusion, there are many of us walking around the earth, free from the chains of that app. The choice to not engage with the “fast foods” of entertainment, ie. tiktok, instagram, facebook, etc. is similar to choices I make around food and exercise, that is- for my overall wellbeing. The only way I know how to respond to this world is to root deeper into what is real and reject artificial substitutes.

So I turn to long-form inspirations to consume and create. A natural cycle my vessel plays a role in. Art is a human contribution to our greater ecosystem. It brings us closer to what we’re really meant to be doing on this earth. Part of being tapped into that consciousness of creating requires a liberation of the mind. Everyday is a fight against the pervasiveness of modern technology use. As we take measures to protect ourselves from other types of pollution, it is the logical next step to also put up a shield against the pollution of the psyche.

I work with the earth as my medium and my muse.

My creative well is dug deeper with each season I spend as earth’s witness. In my quest to go even deeper, I chose to let go of anything standing it the way of that process. Part of that means not using instagram, even if it might make my life “easier” in some ways. The atrophy it creates in my creative muscle is not worth the good it could possibly offer.