If you told me four years ago that images taken with my smartphone would be featured in art publications, in exhibitions and appreciated by a loyal following across the globe, I'd say that's crazy.
I bought a smartphone in 2010 and all it took was a few minutes before I mastered how to use the camera and couple of photo apps. This was pre-Instagram so I built a personal collection of hundreds of images in my digital camera roll, that I wasn't prepared to share with anyone.
Then along came a digital photo platform (Instagram) that said instant expression was OK and that you could learn as you go. Instantly, when you sign you up, you're an artist, you control your own exhibit, it's open 365 days a year and every one's invited. I didn't know how it worked, but I knew I had to use it.
I began to eagerly and intensely document the streets of Toronto. At that time most people still relied on point & shoots or DSLRs to capture everyday life. But there was something different about taking photos with a phone. There was no lens changing, no big equipment bags -- just a camera and my surroundings. It was so freeing. My main subjects: The subway, packed with people; the ever-changing Toronto skyline awaiting skyscrapers for the next generation. The first comment I ever received on my photo, was like an artist selling his or her first painting. I was blown away by the sheer fact that a stranger from somewhere in the American Midwest would like a picture that I took at the subway station in East York.
And just like that, people started connecting with me and positively responding to my work. With that, the followers grew and the interaction with my audience heightened. This helped fuel my passion to capture more images of Toronto on my phone and expand my online gallery.
There were moments when photo purists or art critics were mostly doubting the legitimacy of a mobile device to produce art. This didn't phase me. Some people take selfies and some capture sunsets. At the end of it, the digital world promotes self-expression and new ways to imitate life and all the realities within it.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) recently collaborated with Good Digital Culture on an innovative Intergalactic Art Project sparked by piETa, a sculpture created by artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins. piETa was created to raise questions about "art, belief systems and the rise of popular culture." The pointed question was asked: Is Art Alien/What is Art? and the project looked to the digital universe to shape the perspective and answer it.
I, along with 9 other Instagrammers from across the city of Toronto recently convened at the AGO, including @tonoariki, @punkodelish, @soteeoh, @normster, @lammer, @hongdave,@rachelludlow, @jasonfitzzz and @chinpua.
We all seemed to share the same journey. Started on smartphones and gained popularity through daily photo exhibits that documented what we loved. We then posed the question: "Is Art Alien/What is Art?" to our personal social networks, which cumulatively represented tens of thousands of online followers around the globe. The answer came in the form of images tagged #isartalien, posted alongside @agopopup on Instagram. They represented a diverse range of themes from graffiti on weathered concrete walls, to artsy selfies, to the abstract, the minimalist, street photography and its daily heartbeat, to digitally modified and multi-layered compositions. The digital platform proved to be an open, bold and confident space for everyone to create art and engage with it.
The concept, that a tangible sculpture (piETa) in the real world could spark a massive creation of art in the virtual one by asking a simple question, is a beautiful thing. So as long as our online exhibits are open, the dialogue will never end.
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