Happygram: visual narratives in panoptic society

Abstract

The social media boom and the starring role photography plays in it have brought changes to the production and reception of images as well as to the construction of our intimacy. Within this digital social environment, we become consumers and producers of images simultaneously: voyeurs observed on both sides of the screen, sharing embellished lives, compulsively photographed for online consumption. In this article, we look at the media autobiography constructed in the virtual sphere which makes up the Happygram, focusing on the transformation of gaze and photographic images and on new visual narratives generated in our personal archives. In parallel, we analyze the photographic responses in contemporary art in the face of these new dynamics, reflecting on the starring role of the selfie and the logging of experiences we share and consume in this digital panoptic.