Five inspiring Instagram accounts you should be following

Five inspiring Instagram accounts you should be following

Project Myopia

By: Tamara Hopewell
Date: 12 December 2017

Here’s a selection of five inspiring Instagram accounts using art and self-expression to challenge racism, sexism and neoliberalism one snap at a time.

1. Project Myopia @themyopiaproject

Project Myopia aims to diversify the ‘male, pale and stale curriculum’. The two Edinburgh students who started the project want to diversify university education and help put an end to marginalised voices being othered and regarded as elective topics for study.

The main aspect of the project is this website. Anyone can submit work to it on a topic they’d have liked to have been taught at university – from a feminist critique of Adam Smith to a study of the laws around homosexuality in India. Their Instagram account posts cultural works by marginalised voices and is a great way to gain ideas of what to read and get inspired.

Project Myopia

 

2. The “I’m Tired” Project @theimtiredproject

Using just body parts, paint and a camera this project shines a light on micro-aggressions, stereotypes and discrimination that individuals face day to day. The project began in 2015 and the founders have since travelled the world asking different groups about their daily experiences and getting them to partake.

Keeping faces out of the photos allows for words that are often not voiced to come forward in a positive and safe space. The photographs are simultaneously vulnerable and yet empowering, allowing one to reflect on the experiences. The pictures remind us that not everything is as it seems on the outside.

I'm tired project

 

3. Stop Telling Women to Smile @stoptellingwomentosmile

Stop Telling Women to Smile tackles gender-based street harassment through public art. The project began in 2012 as anart series by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. It  has now become an on-going, travelling series which has already included lots of women and cities.

Each piece is composed of a portrait of a woman along with a caption that speaks directly to offenders. The project aims at empowering women, placing them in environments where they are often made to feel uncomfortable and reminding them that they are free to be who they want to be.

Stop telling women to smile

 

4. Hysteria @hystericalfeminisms

Hysteria is a feminist and anti-capitalist collective made up of members from around the world and from a range of demographics. As an ever-growing project, it often takes divergent paths and approaches, seeing itself as a platform for feminisms, rather than feminism. Their biannual magazine asks critical and much needed questions about feminism today, often pushing tough discussions that others shy away from.

Their Instagram page is filled with art created by feminist voices, helping you discover artists that you didn’t know you needed in your life. The art is intriguing and striking, making you want to explore and discover more and often pushing one to critique the world around them.

Hysteria

 

5. Spelling mistakes cost lives @spellingmistakescostlives

Darren Cullen’s art uses a very healthy serving of black humour and satire to comment on the failed promises constantly given to society. His unapologetically controversial work ‘Action Man: Battlefield Casualties’ earned him outrage from the Daily Mail and The Sun.

As a teenager Cullen wanted to go into advertising and begun studying it at Leeds. However, he quickly came to be disgusted by the questionable ethics around advertising and changed to study fine art. Now he uses advertising techniques to highlight how consumerism is filled with empty promises and attacks the lies behind military recruitment. His witty art will make you chuckle and then groan as you are reminded of the state of the world.

 

Got more inspiring Instagram recommendations? Please share them with us in the comments below.