Benevolent Influencers

BENEVOLENT INFLUENCERS

Selected works from the BENEVOLENT INFLUENCERS portrait series depicting plus-size influencers, predominantly active on Instagram (c. 2016-2017). Instead of using AI software to recommend content, the platform originally displayed posts in chronological order. This feature often created a frenzy of posting from its users at peak activity times throughout the day. By primarily focusing on the body positive movement, this series depicts the democratic potential of social media to spread awareness around topics such as plus-size representation, the censorship of marginalized bodies, and the rebellion against conventional beauty standards. To achieve greater visibility and interaction on the platform, these posts often utilized early influencer strategies such as hiring professional photographers and stylists, wearing and tagging popular brands and/or products, and activating various hashtags such as #effyourbeautystandards (orginally founded by Tess Holliday in 2013).

These illustrated portraits are recreations of various images posted by plus-size influencers of the time. All rights belong to the respective models and photographers who created the original reference images.