Instagram: Age of Aesthetics; Appreciation of Art

Instagram has recently become a disport of cathartic experiences and experiments of its users. Time has passed for DSLRs, for those carefully planned pictures toned with harsh filters and blurry backgrounds, as the aesthetic corner of Instagram is gradually taking over the trends.

‘Change is the only constant‘ stands at its truest self for the digital world. Social media face is highly volatile, trends become history just in a clink of hashtags. However, the reigning style is ‘aesthetic’. The fluidity of this particular style is such, that it is not confined to one section of users, but has rather generalized itself for all sorts of online creativity.

Internet lexicon is especially hard to keep up with, but with an emergence of Instagram columns like Bookstagram and Studygram, we are reassured that this is not getting easy anytime soon. The in-vogue trend of Bookstagram page(s) houses beautiful pictures of books, partially hidden under tousled white sheet, with a plant or coffee to complement. Books can also be seen lying in a café with sultry food as its companion, or they would be very carefully arranged on a bookshelf, as per their colors or even thickness. The literary Instagram is more bent on making itself aesthetically pleasing, with lesser focus on the content, but even after that it has alleviated itself into an enormous marketing structure, all the while maintaining its beauty. The latter includes posting artful photos of study notes, weekly schedules, highlighted definitions, flowcharts, and even diagrams. Who would have believed that the high school pain of homework and note making would have morphed itself into an online phenomenon solely for its visual appeal?

Painting is yet another subculture of aesthetics. For Instagram, it is the ‘Art Journal‘ that has gained momentum recently. Art Journaling is recording memories and thoughts through painting, sketches, words, and sometimes collages. Posting online the charismatically placed pictures of art journals has taken the face of a trend now, with many art pages and influencers taking the lead. Another of these are the Dark Academia pages, which are actually created to promote aesthetics with imagery and dark pictures, perhaps of a dust covered library, women in Victorian gowns, roadside cafés or the pictures of long gone poets.

With the resurrection of old-school fashion trends or vintage, the online fashion industry is also in the loop of aesthetics. Creativity with fashion is a new entry in the Instagram world and its cognizance of aesthetically appealing styles has surely earned it brownie points.

Last but not the least are the Instagram stories, where snaps of nature in a still, transient moment – captured in grainy, pristine filters – are the dominant sight. Blurred pictures, mirror selfies, faceless self portraits, messy hair, dainty jewelry are also seen to be hacking on the fashion.

Instagram is seen to be revolving around beauty and its pleasure. It is celebrating the ‘aesthetic‘ culture with all its finesse and grandeur. Following trends is not uncommon on internet, but a trend that brings with it the appreciation for all forms of art, a trend that holds the essence of finding art in every aspect of our dull and mundane life is rare, and more or less deserves the virtual space it is getting.

Nuzhat Khan is a student pursuing English Literature from Jamia Millia Islamia.

edited by: Rutba Iqbal

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.