"Platforms like Instagram and other social media use age-old mechanisms that fuel our appetite for art and imagery. These techniques have been studied in the West since as early as 500BC, and insights from antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance offer fascinating perspectives on how visual communication works today. Understanding these historical approaches provides valuable context for interpreting how we engage with visual media on social platforms."
"There is more to an image than what you can see. There is always an interaction between observation, registration, and fantasy," Jonckheere writes, describing this as "an age-old truth that has been forgotten in the rush to consume visual media, which has become more prevalent and immediate in our digital age."
"Jonckheere compares today's image filters with Leonardo da Vinci's use of sfumato, a technique of shading in painting and drawing that produces soft transitions between colours and tones. He argues that our use of editing apps that subtly improve our appearance are no different to the wealthy and important individuals who commissioned artists to create favourable portraits."
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