Of Excellences and Perfections
The Art of Instagram Stories
Have you ever seen a picture of someone beautiful and thought, “I wish that was me?” Have you ever been inspired to change your life, to make yourself something new and better? Instagram user Amalia Ulman didn’t just think these things, she made them happen… and brought others along for the ride.
Almost everyone has a social media account: Snapchat, Tumblr, Instagram; the list goes on and on. The sheer variety of selection and the varied content on each platform means you don’t even have to post; many users prefer simply following friends to keep in touch. Some enjoy following people they’ve never met: for laughs, art, and other interesting content.
This is one of the psychological draws of social media: while we can create images and personas for ourselves, we can easily get caught up living vicariously through the lives of those we aspire to be. In her piece Excellences and Perfections, performance artist Amalia Ulman used Instagram to depict a model persona, artistically weaving the story of the hard-won “life” of a celebrity.
From April to September of 2014, Ulman’s Instagram account captured her tale: that of a young, naïve, and beautiful girl hoping to become a model in Los Angeles. It detailed her lavish lifestyle, surgical procedures, and break-ups.
To the naked eye, everything appeared to be real.
But it was all very much an act.
Ulman’s Instagram account drew people in — from those with an appreciation for aesthetics to incredulous viewers and fans who thought she had lost it — and told a visual story of a dream: a lifestyle many followers wanted for themselves.
As a social media platform, Instagram is very unique: it consists almost entirely of user-created photos, dressed with short captions and hashtags. Ulman could not only show what she was up to, she could enhance the narrative with cryptic messages that left interpretation entirely up to the user.
But Ulman’s Instagram feed wasn’t just your ordinary set of status updates, food pics, and pithy comments on how best to mourn for Harambe.
By putting her photos in a very particular order — weaving a purpose and direction into her pictures — Ulman’s account didn’t just update people on her status. It flowed into a narrative, complete with a beginning, ups and downs, and a conclusion.
The diverse range of commentary she received — from flattery to malicious trolling — shows just how far people fell into the illusion. Propositions were even made (predictably) for the skin shown in the above and other images.
In April 2014, when Instagram was in the middle of its meteoric rise, Ulman’s account went a long way towards showing the power of beauty — and showing skin — on social media. This user’s comments capture the impact of the visual medium: “even though I knew about the ‘hoax’ before I looked at this project, I still wanted to be her (you). What does that say about me? And society?”
Ulman now has 121,ooo followers, and her unique Instagram performance art garnered the attention of the art world. In October of 2014, Excellences and Perfections was shown through the New Museum in NYC, known for it’s contemporary art exhibitions.
But Ulman’s impression on the world didn’t end there. The way she used Instagram not only told a story, but created a fictional life for users to interact with. It’s an ingenious use of social media, and teases the possibilities for storytelling through this medium.
We use social networks to depict our own reality, but Excellences and Perfections shows us they’re also a creative way to veer away from traditional storytelling and tell tales unique to this generation: social fiction.
Ulman’s fictional persona layered on the social commentary, but satire isn’t the only type of story we could tell with Instagram. Excellences and Perfections might be the tip of the iceberg: imagine a story that starts with a photograph of a note; then two hands with matching rings; then the silhouette of a couple walking in the forest. Later photographs might tell a love story, but they might just as easily become part of a suspenseful mystery or horror piece. In this medium, it’s all about the images and how they’re presented.
This is what makes social fiction so exciting. These are stories enhanced by their medium, and it’s the users who tell them — you just need an account, a camera (for Instagram), and some imagination.
Do you know of any creative stories — visual or otherwise — told through Instagram, Facebook, or other platforms? Do you have any ideas for interesting ways to tell stories through social media? Let us know in the response section, we’d love to hear from you!
Enjoy!
Woven is supported by LongShorts, a social media-based storytelling app. Check it out here for iOS.
