"If I Don't Praise Myself, Then No One Will": An Exploration of How Photographers Use Instagram in the Process of Establishing an Artistic Career

Social Media has long been recognized as a driving force of change in the art world. For artists, these platforms offer opportunities as well as challenges, especially affecting the way they approach their artistic careers. As the responsibility for career development nowadays increasingly shifts from institutions to the artists themselves, social media is recognized as a tool for self-management, offering new ways for individuals to take control over their career trajectory. Previous research particularly highlights the applicability of social media for networking and marketing practices, which are regarded as prerequisites for leading a successful career within the highly competitive and overcrowded artistic labor market. This thesis builds on this notion, exploring how the platform Instagram is used by art photographers in the process of establishing a career in the field. To approach this, two different methods were combined, online observations and qualitative interviews, which allowed the researcher to explore the artists' activities on Instagram, as well as their individual motivations and goals for using the platform. While the results of this study underline the great relevance of the platform for marketing and networking activities, they also draw attention to the difficulties of negotiating social media use and artistic identity, and of dealing with platform-specific mechanisms such as the algorithm. Overall, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of artistic careers in a changing cultural field and the place of social media in career trajectories.