on the cover

On the Cover: Tavi Gevinson’s Life on Instagram

Photo: Eva O’Leary / New York Magazine

“Who would I be without Instagram? The fact that it’s impossible to parse its exact influence on me indicates that it runs deep. I can try to imagine an alternate universe where I’ve always roamed free and Instagram-less in pastures untouched by the algorithm. But I can’t imagine who that person is inside. I can’t tell you exactly what Instagram has done to me, but I can tell you how it has felt to grow up with it,” writes former teen style blogger, Rookie-magazine founder, and actress Tavi Gevinson in this week’s New York Magazine cover story, as she considers life as a brand.

“The magazine collaborated with Tavi Gevinson on a portfolio of caricatures marking different eras of her relationship to Instagram. Eva O’Leary photographed Tavi, and together they reenacted these carefully conceived moments,” says New York photography director Jody Quon. The cover features Tavi as expressed through an Instagram face filter and stickers. This is Gevinson’s second New York Magazine cover, having previously appeared on the 2014 “Fall Fashion” issue in advance of her Broadway debut.

On the Cover: Tavi Gevinson’s Life on Instagram