One “Instagram star” has turned her social media trickery into an upcoming art exhibit at London’s Tate Modern gallery.
Long before Australia’s Essena O’Neill made headlines in highlighting the smoke and mirrors of Instagram (for those who weren’t aware already), another young female was conducting her own Instagram experiment to do the same thing.
When it comes to Instagram, people like to follow the pretty, the interesting, and those living lavish lifestyles that most can only dream about. Or – at least – those who appear to have it all.
With this in mind, concept artist Amelia Ulman became somewhat of an “Instagram star,” who now has a cool 100k followers. Her account has been filled with shots of her living the dream in a beautifully charmed life, complete with swanky hotel rooms, designer clothing, and haute cuisine.
Matching!! ?? #flowers #girl #iPhone #nails #sunglasses #dolcegabbana #dolce&gabbana
A photo posted by Amalia’s Instagram (@amaliaulman) on
A photo posted by Amalia’s Instagram (@amaliaulman) on
But what her followers didn’t know was that everything about Ulman’s carefully curated social media life was not only a manipulated exaggeration – it was all entirely fake. The shots were of Ulman, but not representative of who she really is at all.
The whole thing was a performance art piece for a project called Excellences & Perfections. The project explores femininity and the truth behind the lives we document on social media.
“With Excellences and Perfections, people got so mad at me for using fiction,” Ulman told Interview Magazine. “That was the main critique: ‘It wasn’t the truth? How dare you! You lied to people!’ Well, that’s because you should learn that everyone is lying online.”
The project began back in April 2014, and has been called “one of the most original and outstanding artworks of the digital era” by The Telegraph. The photo series will be featured as part of an upcoming exhibit called “Performing for the Camera” at the Tate Modern.
Ulman isn’t the first artist to highlight the truth behind those carefully constructed Instagram shots, nor will she be the last. Before you second guess everything you’re doing with your life thanks to your lunchtime Instagram scroll, you may also want to check out the work of this photographer before getting back to the realities of your unfiltered Tuesday afternoon.