The photographs that were removed by the service’s censorship have been collected into a photobook.
Facebook, Instagram’s owner, is known for its strict censorship, especially when it comes to nudity. Sometimes it takes comic forms when the site’s algorithms block photos of works of art.
Prestel Publishing put together the photos that were banned on Instagram and released them as a photobook. It is titled Pics or It Didn’t Happen: Images Banned from Instagram and contains several hundreds of photographs that didn’t pass censorship. The book features pictures by Petra Collins, Rupi Kaur and Harley Weir and other photographers.
Many photos contain erotics, nude bodies or their fragments. Art tries to push boundaries of how we view and perceive the human body. This is true for photography, too.
“The female body is constantly policed – why would Instagram be any different?” the book’ co-author Molly Soda says.
Instagram guidelines read that “violent, nude, partially nude” images, as well as discriminatory, unlawful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos will be removed. Some of the photos from the book clearly violate these rules, others do it less obviously. Sometimes it really difficult to understand why the photo was banned.
The book will go on sale on April 27. Subscribe to our mailing list: