Appreciation Post - by Tara Ward

About the Book

"What does an art history of Instagram look like? In this text Tara Ward addresses this question to show that Instagram is best understood as a structure of the visual, which includes not just the process of looking, but what can be seen and by whom. Tracing the platform's own mythology for how it will be integrated into users' lives, Appreciation Post highlights the ways the constraints imposed by the experience of viewing limit the kinds of selves that can be presented on it, showing how the proliferation of technical knowledge, especially amongst younger women, has produced a revitalization of the myth of the masculine genius and a corresponding reinvigoration of masculine audience for art. Ward prompts contemplation of the meaning of various aspects of Instagram and the deliberate choices on the part of actual Instagrammers: exploring what it is like to scroll through images on a phone, the skill involved in taking an 'Instagram worthy' picture, and the desires created by following influencers. This approach reveals how Instagram is shifting long-established ways of interacting with images and makes an argument for art history's value as a way of understanding the contemporary world and the visual nature of identity today"--

Book Synopsis

What does an art history of Instagram look like? Appreciation Post reveals how Instagram shifts long-established ways of interacting with images. Tara Ward argues Instagram is a structure of the visual, which includes not just the process of looking, but what can be seen and by whom. She examines features of Instagram use, including the effect of scrolling through images on a phone, the skill involved in taking an "Instagram-worthy" picture, and the desires created by following influencers, to explain how the constraints imposed by Instagram limit the selves that can be displayed on it. The proliferation of technical knowledge, especially among younger women, revitalizes on Instagram the myth of the masculine genius and a corresponding reinvigoration of a masculine audience for art. Ward prompts scholars of art history, gender studies, and media studies to attend to Instagram as a site of visual expression and social consequence. Through its insightful comparative analysis and acute close reading, Appreciation Post argues for art history's value in understanding the contemporary world and the visual nature of identity today.

From the Back Cover

"Tara Ward presents social media as an art historical intervention and in the process makes us look anew at our discipline and at ourselves."--Dana E. Katz, Professor of Art History and Humanities, Reed College

"In this groundbreaking study--the first sustained art historical account of Instagram--Tara Ward presents social media as a crucial new visual archive, platform, and medium. Appreciation Post brilliantly theorizes how familiar concepts, from aura to the gaze, look profoundly different in a digital age of endless scrolling, liking, clicking, and sharing."--John R. Blakinger, Endowed Associate Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Arkansas

About the Author

Tara Ward is an art historian specializing in twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture. She is editor of Gender and Popular Culture: A Visual Study, and her work has been published by the Guggenheim Museum, Oxford Art Journal, and Excursions.