Social Media Friendly Plants by Sameer Kulavoor

Sameer Kulavoor (1983) is a visual artist living and working in Mumbai, India. His interest lies in exploring and understanding the impact that time, culture, politics and socio-economic conditions have on our visible and invisible surroundings. In this age of visual overload, his work involves documenting and dissecting commonly seen subjects through drawing, painting, illustrations and zines. He is the founder of Bombay Duck Designs – an independent illustration design studio for self-publishers and independent artists.

In this mural, Sameer Kulavoor depicted a new way of understanding algorithms in the new millennium. Algorithms were once a set of rules followed to solve calculations embedded into our computers. Now algorithms create social media networks that control everything from the way we think and what we eat to how we live and who we make love with.

Over the past few years, certain plants seem to have gained popularity on social media, and as a result, one can spot them everywhere - in cafes, at homes, offices, indoor/outdoor parks, and in selfies. The artist laid down this thought through a composition arranged seemingly as an Instagram grid, consisting of elements that replicate themselves into an algorithm.

Thus, in the mural, some individuals are seen photographing these plants, while others take selfies - now a very common sight in Lodhi Colony as well. It is a take on how the visiting public of the art district has been seen compulsively capturing street art and themselves, which, just like the plants, is a social media phenomenon. Through this clever and ironic commentary, the artist highlights these low-maintenance ‘pretty-pinterest-plants ’, as he calls them, and their fast-fashion character, almost playing with the viewer when giving out his piece for a photo to ‘garner a few hundred likes' easily