#WhoIFollow: @minnagilligan’s Psychedelic Playgrounds of Color

In the #WhoIFollow series, we ask Instagrammers to share their favorite people to follow. For more photos and videos from Minna and her favorites, follow @minnagilligan, @petrafcollins, @filmmefatales, @thefamilyacid and @beciorpin on Instagram.

Melbourne artist Minna Gilligan (@minnagilligan) sees Instagram as a personal gallery space where she can define her aesthetic and see her work in a fresh context. She describes her vibrant art as “psychedelic playgrounds of color,” which often feature characters from her collection of old books, objects and ephemera. “I like the idea of plucking people from a kind of cultural debris and then repurposing them into my own narratives.”

Minna, who frequently contributes to Rookie (@<ahref=“http://instagram.com/rookiemag”>rookiemag), an online publication for teen girls, says that she finds inspiration everywhere. “I love making up stories about the lives of objects before I found them. I remember encounters with people, relationships, friendships—all of these things fuel my work.”

Here are some of Minna’s favorite personal gallery spaces to visit on Instagram:

  • Petra Collins (@petrafcollins) – “Petra Collins is a photographer who lives in New York. She also works for Rookie magazine with me, where we have collaborated on a number of collage series. I admire her as an artist immensely and am addicted to her magical Instagram feed.”
  • Filmme Fatales (@filmmefatales) – “My friend Brodie Lancaster (who also writes for Rookie!) edits this zine about women in cinema. She’s just about to release issue #4. It is brilliant.”
  • The Family Acid (@thefamilyacid) – “This Instagram account is amazing, they post scans of slide photography from the 1960s to the 1980s. The original photographs were taken by Roger Steffens and curated by his daughter Kate Steffens. My favourite photographs they post are from Vietnam in the 1960s. So, so fascinating.”
  • Beci Orpin (@beciorpin) – “Beci Orpin is a designer, illustrator and author in Melbourne. Her work is fresh, sharp and fun, and I look forward to when she pops up on my Instagram feed, a guaranteed smile!”