Instagram Deleted My Photo. So I Turned It Into a Zine.

“No matter who rejects it or what platform bans it, a zine is your space to show the world you want to see.”

Hey, how’s it going?

Yesterday marked the start of the Tokyo Streets X Exhibition, which I’m taking part in. It’s being held at the gallery space inside WPÜ SHINJUKU, a boutique hotel in Shinjuku.

The space is honestly incredible—if you’re in Tokyo, you should definitely swing by. I’ll be there every day during the show (check my Instagram Stories for daily hours).

To go along with the exhibition, I made a brand-new zine titled Photographs of Mee. It’s a nude photography zine featuring a woman named Mee, and it was all shot in just three hours.

I used four cameras—Nikon FM2, Instax SQ10, Lomography Actionsampler Flash, and the FUJI X100T—along with Kodak Gold and Tri-X 400 film.

I shot it in July, developed the film, scanned everything, designed the layout, and had it printed—all within just two weeks.

This time, I’m especially proud of the photos I took with the Lomography Actionsampler Flash, which captures four sequential images in a single frame. Here’s one of them:

And… I posted this image to Instagram on July 18.

I knew it might be a little too sexual, but since there were no visible nipples, I figured it would be fine. Nope—Instagram thought otherwise. I assume someone reported it, and the four-frame 🍑 photo was removed.

More than 40 people unfollowed me after that post—maybe they were uncomfortable with what they saw.

On the other hand, engagement was unusually high: 17,635 views and 1.6K likes as of now.

Sure, it’s a different vibe from my usual work, and I imagine some people were surprised to see me post a photo like that. But personally, I think it’s a strong image.

Still, I can’t lie—it stung a bit when Instagram took it down. And it got me thinking about how we, in this algorithm-driven age, are constantly surrounded by content that we already like.

So when something makes us uncomfortable or doesn’t align with our worldview, our instinct is to reject it without question.

You probably know Marcel Duchamp’s piece Fountain. It’s literally just a men’s urinal signed “R. Mutt,” submitted under the name Fountain.
Duchamp tried to exhibit it at the 1917 Society of Independent Artists show in New York—where supposedly anything could be shown as long as you paid the fee—but even they rejected it.

Now, I’m not comparing my photo to Fountain. They’re completely different things.

But discomfort and tension often contain the seeds of important questions or the beginning of change. If we dismiss that discomfort without reflection, we shut ourselves off from those conversations.

Instead, we should be asking: Why does this make me uncomfortable?

That kind of question can open up moments of introspection, curiosity, and dialogue.

Anyway, my photo was rejected by Instagram—and by a handful of my followers—without any real discussion. But maybe that’s part of what gives this zine more value. It’s full of images that Instagram would never let me post.

It’s part of the spirit behind my “404 not found” concept: photos you won’t find on the internet, only in zines.

So if you’re curious about the kinds of images Instagram doesn’t want you to see, I hope you’ll pick up Photographs of Mee. I’d love for it to spark your own thoughts on photography, censorship, and what it means to express something real.

Only 100 copies available — grab yours now via the link below.
https://fareastdarkroom.com/products/photographs-of-mee

No matter who rejects it or what platform bans it, a zine is your space to show the world you want to see.