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Today, social media is full of negativity and anger. However, these eight female Instagram artists, come as a ray of hope and wholesome content!
Over the past few months I realised no matter how self-aware I claim to be about the perils of social media, I have grown reliant on Instagram. Yet, I have also taken the time to pause and reflect on the kind of content I consume every day.
Instagram artists have triumphed from the following they gain, with many of them experimenting with different styles and techniques. They are also using their influence to offer social commentary on the current political landscape. And they channel a lot of their own social beliefs in their work, leaving us with something beautiful and remarkable.
I have grown rather fond of looking at Instagram art and photography in my spare time. Sometimes I even look at these for inspiration if I am working on something creative. My discoveries so far have been great and given me a lot to think about. Here are eight women Instagram cartoonists who make extremely wholesome and remarkable content.
This Instagram account is run by Bindu Desetty and features cartoons that help us reflect on ourselves, in particular, self-love and acceptance. It made me tumble down a rabbit hole and look for more female artists and cartoonists.
She also highlights some of the struggles that women face such as motherhood, self-esteem and self-image. Scrolling through her feed for the first time made me very calm and collected. It was a definite breather from all of the news headlines and TikTok and food videos that often seem to flood my Instagram feed every single day.
Neha Sharma, the Instagram cartoonist behind Neha Doodles, draws upon the collective experiences of the Indian household. After some looking around, I realised that her dog, Minty plays a recurring role in many of her cartoons. From what I saw, there is always a clever and strategically placed well-intended pun waiting in the corner of every comic!
Alicia Souza’s Instagram account features some of the most wholesome content you might ever find on the Instagram platform. One of India’s most well-known Instagram artists explores and dissects topics like self-love and body image through a unique lens.
It made me look at things differently and made my day! She encourages us as audiences to take charge of our lives every day and seek glories in the small occurrences of everyday life.
Tall Girl Toons, run by Instagram artist, Xena Ramakrishnan, truly stands out in the way she busts standards pit against Indian women, especially about height.
Her clever bio, ‘the higher point of view’ embraces and reclaims her own experiences as a woman supposedly ‘too tall for Indian standards.’ I think her comic-book-style, as well as black and white aesthetic, offers a rather candid and authentic depiction of her thoughts and feelings.
Instagram cartoonist, Angela Mary Vaz’s relatable account sheds light on the experiences of being a curly-haired woman in India. Her cartoons also helped her through a journey of self-acceptance as she finally learnt to embrace her natural curls.
One of her most well-loved cartoons depicts the Instagram artist drying her hair with a diffuser to give it volume and shine. This is followed by a 20 minute and 40 minute time-lapse, and then a skeleton-version of her character.
Doodle Drama is run by Instagram cartoonist Mounia Tata. These curated cartoons feature a wide array of topics like sexual health education and taboo topics in Indian society.
She pairs these with fun and heart-warming cartoons leave us only wanting more. One of her more popular cartoon features warns us how we should be wary of friends who only have ‘one fry at a time.’
This account is run by one of my favourite Instagram artists, Gauri Saxena. Her cartoons personally resonated with me a lot. The cartoons directly feature important feminist issues as well as the importance of female liberation, And she also touches upon causes like body positivity and body image. She uses a vibrant and unique colour pallet in each of her compilations to set different moods and themes.
This account is run by an Instagram artist called Pranjali Dubey who sheds light on many political and social issues, especially in the form of satire. One of her most enduring cartoons revolves around the classic ‘go make me a sandwich’ rhetoric. She talks about ‘bread from the fresh bakers of patriarchy,’ and ‘cheese as soft and fragile as the male ego’ in the illustration.
Overall, these cartoonists offer us a certain ‘detox’ from the barrage of mainstream social media posts choke our feeds right now. It is wonderful to pause and think about what an artist is trying to convey and decipher the messages hidden in seemingly innocuous cartoons.
So why not go visit their pages for some lovely and wholesome content?
Picture credits: Screenshots from all their Instagram feeds
Shivani is currently an undergraduate political science student who is passionate about human rights and social issues, particularly women's rights and intersectionality. When she is not viciously typing her next article or blog post, read more...
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