*Trigger Warning: Contains graphic content and imagery of domestic violence*

           Instagram has become one the most popular digital photo sharing application. It is unique compared to Facebook, and Twitter, as it revolves solely around images. Instagram is an interesting topic of research, for it is a fairly new social media platform, and has been seldom discussed on an academic level. Instagram reached over 300 million users as of December 2014 (Statista), and therefore deserves attention.

           Social media influences the way in which we engage in visual culture, especially image-focused sites like Instagram. People use it to share important memories, connect with others and to display their own identity; however, this has often manifested in the sharing images that are highly personal, and sometimes even traumatizing such as images of domestic violence and sexual abuse. An example of this type of use is 20-year-old Mori Gabriella Montgomery. In February of 2014 she posted pictures to her Instagram account of her body after being thrown out of a moving car and beat up by her boyfriend. When coming across these types of photos, I could not help but wonder why would users of Instagram post graphic and/or personal photos of themselves? What affordances does Instagram brings about for users that other forms of sharing and exhibiting do not? Sharing such personal photos on a public site seems curious, however Instagram has unique properties that may encourage a beneficial type of looking. Instagram posts encourage active witnessing, through the medium’s simplistic, image-heavy interface, personalized form and interactive functions. Instagram therefor can act a site for support, advocacy and ethical looking at domestic violence.

           Scholars have yet to research viewing practices of photos on Instagram, however there has been much work surrounding the ethics of photography more generally. One of the most classic works is by scholar Susan Sontag, where she states “photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems to be proven when we’re shown a photograph” (5). This idea demonstrates how Mori’s images work as proof for users of the reality of domestic violence, and also for our society more generally that often muffles the voices of survivors, and even doubts the prevalence these cases. This could possibly explain the sharing of photos such as these, however it does not as much help in analyzing why Instagram specifically encourages any particular viewing practice.

           When attempting to account for the medium, Instagram, there is scholarly work that delves more into the digital age of photography. Mikko Villi describes photographs in the digital age no longer having a “here” but a “now”, considering the instantaneous time in digital photo sharing (50-51). There is heightened emotion involved in pictures taken and communicated instantly because “when physically distanced individuals strive to establish and maintain a connection by communicating through photograph, the feeling of loss associated with the photograph is often not permanent, and the motivation for sending the photographs is high only during the phase of absence” (Villi 43-44). In this sense, is possible that photos that are highly personal and/or containing serious content could have an initial deep emotional reaction from viewers on Instagram by heightening the feeling of distance, wanting to be there for them but not being able to. This could be a way in which social media encourages emotionally engaged viewing, a key piece of active witnessing.

           Scholars have worked to look at the affordances of social media platforms more closely to help explain why they are so popular. One of the theories regarding the use of social media is the idea of presenting the self.  Scholar Bernie Hogan has explained the way in which social media exhibitions are examples of this type of personal usage, as he describes an online exhibition space as “information signifying an individual [that is] delivered to the audience, on demand by a third party” (381). In the case of Instagram, the application is the third party that communicates information about/created by an individual.

           More importantly however, “once a performance has been recorded, the nature of the performance has altered… it no longer necessarily bounds the specific audience who were present when the performance took place. Instead, it can be taken out of a situation and replayed in a completely different context” (Hogan 380). Photos displayed on Instagram can be delivered to audiences beyond a user’s immediate circle offline, or even their own followers online. Images can be spread more widely, and therefore awareness of issues such as domestic violence could therefore be spread without people needing to know a survivor personally, or even follow her on Instagram. It is evident that Instagram could be a perfect place for serious issues that people would like to spread awareness about.

           Although I referred to social media as public, in fact, social media and other digital platforms are neither solely public nor private spaces. Scholar Caroline Bainbridge describes social media as the “ultimate private/public partnership” due to the way social media “has blurred the lines of what is private and what is public” (154). Instagram is then both shared publically, but is also private in many ways, such as its privacy settings, personalized newsfeed, and users control over their presentation of self. Unlike Hogan, Bainbridge finds these new public/private spaces as a challenge, stating “what makes this developmental hurdle different from others, is its navigation is staged publically, and can be replicated and distributed at will, and may be recorded for all time” (161). Interestingly, while Hogan describes the same type of mass circulation as a possible benefit, Bainbridge sees this as a possible concern. Bainbridge would argue that Instagram is not completely personal, and that it’s risky to share sensitive images as they could be distributed and kept by complete strangers.

           As I stated previously, and attempted to demonstrate above, previous research only discusses photography and social media separately, and does not analyze Instagram as its own medium. In this paper, I will attempt to use visual analysis tools, as well as Mori Montgomery’s case study as an example to specifically look at Instagram practices of looking it encourages. I will use theoretical, semiotic, textual, and industrial analysis in analyzing the way Instagram posts encourage active witnessing. To “witness”, means “to participate, to experience the event in some way, and then to testify to what you saw” (Polchin 210). To reiterate Polchin’s point, witnessing something is to be held accountable, and actively engage in what you see. I will argue that Instagram encourages this type of looking in its viewers, and acts a site for support, advocacy and ethical looking at domestic violence.

           The application’s interface is one of the most important visual aspects of Instagram as a medium for image exhibition. I have included an example to the left from my own newsfeed for reference. The screenshot below demonstrates a few key aspects of the interface.

The first and most noticeable is the size of the image. Instagram displays all of their images largely, taking up almost the entire screen. The full screen, centered image is extremely important in encouraging witnessing. Unlike other exhibitions both on social media and in person, Instagram does not have any option to look away. You cannot change the size of the image, and there is no ‘text-only’ version. In fact, even when you navigate to other pages such as “discover” (the magnified glass button) or  “my profile” (the silhouette), it is still the same image layout…you cannot escapes the photos. In this sense, it allows users to see the image clearly, and in full detail.

           Expanding my semiotic analysis to the Mori Montgomery case, the above aspects of Instagram can be seen in her post (screenshot below).

Above is Mori’s post after the incident. Mori’s image is slightly different than my other example, as it is a “pic-stich”, which means a collage of multiple pictures. This style is useful for it helps her show multiple parts of her body. The multiple images, still large in size, helps Mori give display the full extent of her attack.

           In a way, these images echo the images Polchin evaluates in his piece on witnessing lynching photos, where he states “these images provoke shock and foster an anxiety through their depictions of graphic violence…[the images] challenge our assumptions about how to look at a photograph” (207). Mori’s graphic imagery helps us to think deeper than way may about photos such as the food post on my newsfeed. Her post queues an emotional response, which therefore “allows us to identify with the victims and empathize with their fate” (Polchin 213). Visually, it is clear the way in which Instagram’s large image size encourages one to engage, as you not only cannot look away, or be distracted by anything else on the page. For Mori, this visual presentation helps her to shock users, and encourage an emotion response, which helps users to engage and empathize.

           Not only does Mori’s post use the image itself to encourage active witnessing but also it relies on captioning, which gives brief, yet relevant context. Instagram images are framed at the top with the user who created/posted the image’s name (in the case from my own newsfeed, it is a food profile titled “hungrygrls”, however it would usually be someone’s name), and the location under the name, however sometimes people opt to not put a location if it’s not relevant. Below an Instagram image is the caption the user creates and posts with the image. Instagram’s framing of the image is extremely important in giving context, a key element in encouraging active witnessing. Polchin demonstrates the importance of context when discussing The Roth Horowitz Show. This exhibit of lynching photos did not provide any context, so viewers did not know how to look, or what they were even looking at (210). The exhibitions he discusses that did encourage an act of ethical, engaged looking were those that gave context to what people were seeing, and Instagram is set up in a similar way. Instagram gives the creator agency in how to frame their image, as “networked individuals curate their performances on social network site platforms, highlighting, omitting, and strategically framing identity-based content…social network site profiles are signifiers for identifiable bodied beings” (Davis 508). It is clear that not only does Instagram offer context, social media in general allows the image and its context to be completely in the hands of the users.

           Textual analysis of Mori’s post reveals the ways in which her caption shapes they way we experience the image she shared. Here is a fairly blurry screen shot of Mori’s caption on her original post of the incident. You can see that the text itself is highly personal. You can hear her exact tone as if you were talking to her. The caption provides her point of view and detailed account in an extremely open, and honest way. In addition to her caption, the “comments” section is also important aspect of the format of the application, as it provides a space for witnesses to talk about it.

           Instagram’s interface and interactive functions allow users to critically engage in the content. The location/profile title and captioning, along with large image size, creates minimal distraction, and gives the image context. It is these elements that demonstrate that Instagram is encourages active witnessing, as it proved the tools to analyze images in full-detail, and in Mori’s case, identify with her, think critically about domestic violence, and then engage in the material.

           Ideally, Instagram’s ability to encourage active witnessing would result in being a space for support and advocacy on social issues such as domestic violence. However, its ability to do so does not alone prove that it actually does function in this way. An industrial analysis on the case of Mori Montgomery is necessary to see if Instagram really does work for her in this way.  I turned to Mori’s Instagram profile page (screenshot to below) to learn more about her as a person and a Instagram user. By simply reading her bio, I was able to find out that she is not only is an aspiring model, but she labels herself a “domestic violence advocate”. The pictures as I scroll down her profile are a mixture of influential quotes and modeling shots, and mixed in with these images are posts encouraging advocacy and sharing other women’s graphic domestic violence experiences. Her images of other women’s injuries, about “speaking out, and about her own experience demonstrates her desire to bring awareness of the severity and prevalence of domestic violence to her Instagram community of over 72 thousand followers. It is clear that she uses this application as a site for advocacy.

           Using social media for advocacy is not a new concept, however it is not as easy in modern times. “Advocates today face a significant challenge: How to continue generating public dialogue…during a time when many journalists feel they have already “done” the issues of domestic violence and when gaining access to the public’s attention is intensely competitive” (Ghez 418).  This emphasizes that we are in a moment in advocacy when digital and mobile world is growing, and this means that Instagram could be a new avenue for advocacy, although its hard due to competition for eyeballs on digital spaces. However, “the emergence of social networks transforms each of these everyday acts of consumption, giving them greater public visibility, increasing their social dimensions, and ultimately expanding their economic and cultural impact” (Green, Jenkins 111). In this sense, Mori’s usage of Instagram could actually be an effective form of advocacy due to the visibility and increasing social dimension.

           In order to see how successful Mori’s efforts are, I analyzed the way her information was received/spread both within Instagram as well as in the mainstream news media. The comments on her pictures of her own experience are quite telltale of her success. Below is a screenshot of a few of the comments on Mori’s original post.

The majority of the posts are supportive about Mori’s courage and health, while some were tagging friends to see the post. A few were even other users sharing there their own experiences of domestic violence. These comments prove that viewers of her posts are actively engaged. They are not afraid to speak about what they just saw. Many empathize with Mori, and some are so inspired that they opened up about own experiences, demonstrating that they were able to appropriate that experience as if it were one’s own, and engage in active witnessing.

           The success of Mori’s advocacy is also clear in the way the news media has picked up her case. In the following visual example, Mori is painted as a survivor and publically labeled an “advocate” telling people to “listen up”.

The images used by the news organizations are mostly the same images that Mori originally posted on Instagram. There are even news articles (like the example to the left) that discuss the way she shared her experience on Instagram specifically, which further goes to show that Instagram itself had an impact in spreading her experience across multiple channels, and creating a public dialogue.

           Instagram is a space for a particular kind of engagement. The interface and interactive function are extremely image heavy, yet still provide context. Additionally, the medium is highly personal to the creator. This is what makes Instagram a safe space for posting your own content, and engaging in dialogue with other people’s content. Mori uses Instagram in this way; she invites others to engage in her experience, and she listens and shares others’ experiences. Most importantly, Mori helped bring the sensitive issue of domestic violence to the mainstream media, and it all started with an Instagram post. 

           This engaged use of Instagram demonstrates how this medium can be used as a force for good. It would be interesting to see if that was true for all social media platforms. Further research could look at other social sites that are less image-oriented, and see what kind of looking is encouraged. By encouraging an ethical gaze at users’ personal images, even images of trauma, Instagram creates a critical and engaged network of looks, from the image sharer to the audience and visa versa.

Bibliography

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