In a digital world where consistency is sex for money videokey (#VSCO), Patti Smith's apparent Instagram chaos is a revelation.
Smith, an iconic musician, poet, writer, and artist, joined Instagram a little over two years ago (just before she turned 70). She's posted daily ever since, tracking her life of touring, writing, coffee drinking, and rare moments of tranquility. Her feed is a visual journey through life, a bookmark between her National Book Award-winning Just Kids, the more lonesome M Train, and the upcoming Year of The Monkey. With it, Smith has carved out a small space of poetic beauty amongst all the hecticness of social media today.
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"Taking the pictures I left changed, in a much more sunnier disposition. Thank you colors, I’m still sunny"
She begins every post with a characteristically candid "This is..." – almost as if to prepare us for what usually follows: an unfiltered and incredibly intimate appreciation of life itself.
Smith's life seems like an intricate grandfather clock, ticking between spontaneity (touring) and strict discipline (morning coffee and writing). Through it all, Smith is always focused on capturing the beauty that remains hidden amongst mundane and everyday moments. And every now and again, just like clockwork, her Instagram is a calendar, commemorating the passage of time with what she calls "self-pictures."
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So here's an attempt to curate the work of a master curator. A small ode to to Smith's Instagram clock and all its intricate workings...
The road
Patti Smith is first and foremost a rock star, and her Instagram offers a kind of behind-the-scenes look at parts of a rock star's life we aren't always privy to.
Sure, there are occasional photos of theatres bursting with eager audiences, but it's really Smith's minimalist approach to touring that brings a certain joy to her feed.
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The uniform
Another fascinating aspect of Smith's Instagram is her detailed look at all the pieces of the aesthetic puzzle that, put together, transform her into the "godmother of punk" (or, as Salvador Dalí once allegedly alluded to her, a "glam gothic crow").
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The routine
The dizzying days on the road are carefully balanced by moments of tranquility enforced by exercised order and routine. For the last two years, Smith has been working on her third book, Year of the Monkey – out September 24 – in backseats of cars, on buses and on airplanes, in between shows and in hotel rooms, in cafés and diners. Her Instagram offers some reassurance to those of us fearing the uncontrollability of modern life and all its distractions – the answer, offers Patti, is discipline, routine, and a strong cup of black coffee (occasionally partnered with a piece of toast).
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The 'self picture'
Smith's Instagram feed mirrors a problem we've all faced: how to take a reasonably good selfie.
For Smith, "self pictures" present a struggle, both aesthetically and technically (she worries about them being crooked). But she nonetheless persists in producing photographs that are both vulnerable and powerful, both young and old.
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The night
Lastly, and quite fittingly, Smith uses her Instagram as a sort of confessional. A place to share, for example, what the world looks like when she lays awake in the middle of the night.
What makes those dedicated posts quite beautiful is that, despite the darkness at hand, Smith always follows up with a little mantra of sorts – we are here now, alive, together, and we must cherish those moments. Or in her own words:
Taking the pictures I left changed,in a much more sunnier disposition.Thank you colors, I’m still sunny.
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Smith's Instagram is like a (not so secret) door into one of the best minds of our generation (h/t Allen Ginsberg). It offers indispensable lessons about meandering the nauseatingly cluttered and complex world we find ourselves in; it provides a landing pad, an anchorage, a safe haven amidst the brands and façades and trends.
But most importantly, it offers a different way of communicating online, true to Smith's literary heroes, at a time of increasing division, violence, and sophistry.
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