On Shadows and Influencers

Photo by Olya Mn on Unsplash

A few days ago, trying to find some answers about the continued failures of my life, I did a session with an astrologer who read my natal chart—“a picture of the sky when you were born.” I loved it because these sessions usually just confirm things I know or want to be told: “You shine bright and bring light to people with your warmth.” “You are a creator.” “Who took your self-worth?” 

After asking this question, which I had never heard before and honestly, caught me off-guard, she said I should do “shadow work” to figure out aspects of myself that I have suppressed or not acknowledged. So, I have been doing that. I found a questionnaire with many prompts, such as: “Who do you envy, and why?” “What are your personal core values?” and “What emotions typically bring out the worst in you, and why do you think this happens?”

“F**k the algorithm” – Art, curation and influence in late-stage Internet

RM at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in a post from May 30, 2022 (Screen capture)

A couple of days ago, RM (Kim Namjoon), the rapper, writer, and leader of BTS, unarchived the entirety of his Instagram history. His posts go back to December 2021, when all BTS members opened their Instagram accounts. In the last several months, RM had, seemingly randomly, “deleted” or archived posts a few or whole chunks at a time.