The photo-sharing app has changed so much over the years, it is making artists and their art feel unwelcome
SAN FRANCISCO — Deb JJ Lee built a career in illustration on Instagram, one colorful comic at a time. Some of the comics that Lee, 26, posted on the photo-sharing site told stories about fantastical worlds; others meditated on Lee’s experiences as a Korean American. Without Instagram, Lee, who uses they/them pronouns, said they would not be illustrating graphic novels and publishing picture books.
But seven years, hundreds of posts and tens of thousands of followers later, Lee’s relationship with Instagram has cooled — not because they no longer need social media to promote their art, but because the app has changed so much that it seems to have stopped welcoming artists.
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