Capital production relations make crafted influencer images anything but vernacular culture

Evidence

And even if selfies may have seemed to be “disposable,” we can begin to see that they’ve always involved an elaborate, extensive system of production that remains obscured by the image. This is why selfies are not “vernacular” forms of visual culture. We can only say they are vernacular if we ignore the relations inherent in the production of any image, and these relations are surely not “of the people.” They are relations of capital, in which sociality and community have been subsumed into production. The moment these images become composed, become an act derived from the labor of the influencer, labor on which making a living as an influencer depends, then they cannot be said to be vernacular. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 90

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Supports the Corpocene essay’s labor framing: sociality and community get subsumed into the influencer’s production relations.