The Ljilja — Photographic Artist
I shall start my story with a quote from the book “The Nudes in Photography” by Peter Lacey and Antony La Rotonda. “The female nude — magical, erotic, aesthetic — has been modeled and painted since prehistory. Appearing rarely and awkwardly in the earliest art, she attained fulfillment and glory in Ancient Greece. In their idealized treatment of the nude, the Greeks established standard that only the asceticism of the Middle Age ignored. The artists of Renaissance and their successors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries revived the nude, and by 1930’s she was again a conventional form. It was inevitable that she should become a favorite subject of photography.” Nude always was and still is such an important part of our art history. It is ironic that in society where sex sells everything nude as an art form is being banished from Instagram.
Before we move forward let me introduce myself. I’m an artist from Croatia currently based in Swiss. Theljilja is an ongoing photography project inspired by Jung and his alchemical studies. We live in an era where most of us are trying to show the best part of ourself and I am showing that dark,disturbing and hidden part.
My self-portraits are documentary of my inner journey, rituals performed in front of my camera.
When I was deciding which social platform I would use for my art Instagram was first choice. Little did I know that my images would be taken down, my account reported for breaking Instagram Community Guidance and for Self Harm issues. It even happened that in just one night 5 of my images were taken down, and during the next day more of my work was gone without any explanation. If all of my images are censored because I am humble enough and I am respecting IG’s community Rules why they are banished? Why inappropriate often means naked? Why celebrities are having more freedom? Why everyone can hit that report button and immediately my image will be gone?
I’m fascinated with the fact how some people equate nudity with pornography and sex. If Instagram’s reason for that reporting part is to exclude pornography from IG why artists are NOT being protected? Why are there so many hate filled, bulimic and self-harm accounts BUT my account is going to be reported? I don’t see any logic here. Artists should be protected. We are writing art history. We are needed in this falling world so badly. Art should never been censored, and mouth of an artist should never be gaged even in Social Media World. Even there…
