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Welcome to Your Art Is A Spell, the podcast that ignites inspiring and transformative conversations about art as a magical practice. I'm your host, Edgar Fabián Frías—a multi-passionate artist, witch, therapist, and proud mutant shape-shifter. My art spells have reached audiences through social media, billboards, and skyscrapers and have even been placed on the surface of the moon! Join us as we explore how reclaiming your unique artistic voice and embracing bold creativity can transform your life and the world around you. Subscribe to the podcast and sign up for our newsletter at www.yourartisaspell.com to stay connected!
welcome your art is a spell and it will change
your life and the world around you have you ever
made something beautiful something radical tender
witchy or just really you and hit post with hopes
in your heart only to watch it vanish into
the void no likes no comments no reach no
explanation it's like the internet whispered
SILENCIO well friends that might not just be
your imagination you may have been shadowbanned
welcome or welcome back to your art is a spell
my name is Edgar Fabian Frias and today we're
breaking a curse because let's be real shadow
banning is a 21st century witch hunt but instead
of burning you at the stake the algorithm just
quietly buries your presence and your work and
pretends it never existed but we're still here
we see each other and we're going to talk about
why this happens who it targets and how to cast
spells that the algorithm cannot erase so first
off what is shadow banning shadowbanning is when
a platform usually without telling you suppresses
your content your posts stop showing up on certain
hashtags your stories tank people don't see your
posts anymore your reach nose dives you become
invisible it's censorship but done in a sneaky
cowardly way you don't get a big public ban they
don't tell you directly that it's happening no
community guidelines strike just silence and it
tends to target people well like us artists
witches queers seggs positive educators seggs
workers radicals truthtellers basically anyone
who challenges the algorithms comfort zone or
challenges white supremacist patriarchal culture
which we know a lot of these platforms are built
on and what do the platforms say they will say
over and over that shadow banning isn't real but
that's cute we know better we've seen entire
communities go quiet overnight after posting
about Palestine Black Lives Matter mutual aid or
even a spicy art pic this isn't paranoia it's a
pattern and who gets the most impacted let's
break it down first we'll talk about artists
and performers especially those who are fat trans
disabled erotic or just a little too real witches
and healers are also targeted for posting their
spells for talking about magic or anything that
unsettles the patriarchal norm activists are also
another group that gets targeted when they call
out the system when they talk about empire or
capitalism or injustice their reach immediately
tanks sex educators and sex workers anyone who's
a body positive creator anyone who wants to love
their bodies or love other bodies in public and
these are not coincidences these systems were
never really designed for us to be fully visible
they've just given us the idea of visibility they
were actually designed to profit off of us and
then mute us when we get too loud and yeah of
course I'm talking from personal experience i meet
a lot of these criteria and of course I've been
shadowbanned many many times before i've watched
my reach plummet after posting about police
violence and injustice i've had my artwork hidden
after critiquing systems of inequity within the
art realm i've lost many followers after sharing
openly about Palestine or talking about Black
Lives Matter anytime I've spoken too truthfully
too passionately I've watched it happen over and
over again to my account as well as so many of my
friends some have even had their accounts deleted
some people were told that their art was too
explicit because it depicted a nude body even
though we have a long history of nude bodies
and artwork and other people were locked out
of their accounts simply for existing as who they
are the message is clear be quiet be safe be sellable
and we say absolutely not so what do we do when
we've been shadowbanned by these platforms and
systems first a few strategic counter spells if
you're staying on these platforms like Instagram
first I want you to check your hashtags some of
these hashtags are banned without warning without
warning yes even random ones like #goddess or #
curvy have been blocked in the past use smaller
more communityspecific hashtags and try to keep
them between three to five at the most another
tip for those on Instagram is engagement pods
or online covens team up with your friends hype
each other up comment save DM each other's work
mutual aid isn't cheating it is survival and last
but definitely not least speak in code so many
people are already doing this and I'm really
inspired by the way people on Tik Tok and YouTube
do this replace l3tt3$ with numbers or symbols
put sensitive text in a screenshot instead
of writing it out in the caption and come up
with new words that can signify other things
for example I want to highlight this amazing
video by Taylor Lorenz that talks about a huge
group of people on the internet talking about
"just do it" "someone needs to do it" and we all know
what they're talking about so watch that video if
you haven't yet i'm going to be linking it in
the description notes but here's the truth all
of these different tips they're just patches just
band-aids not real liberation let's talk now about
real freedom outside of these constraints what's
the most powerful spell you can cast in the age of
algorithmic censorship stop letting the algorithm
define your worth seriously here are some ways
that you could do that first I want to recommend
you to start a newsletter if you have a newsletter
I want you to comment it here so that I can sign
up cuz I want to be on your newsletter yeah you
might see newsletters as clunky or old school
but guess what you cannot censor newsletters
they go straight to the people who are on your
list people who want to hear from you no bots no
reach settings just you and your people i have a
newsletter and you can subscribe by going to
yourartisaspell.com if you want to get on my newsletter
again let me know about your newsletters leave
them in the comments let's support each other by
sharing our newsletters and signing up for each
other's newsletters so we can exit the algorithm
together number two another thing you could
do is make your own home on the internet create
a website make a blog a Patreon a little digital
altar where your art lives freely no algorithmic
overlords just pure signal pure vibrations again
you can go to yourartisaspell.com to check
out my little home away from home on the internet
and I want to invite you to check out some of
the artwork I've made in the last couple of
years go old school and go underground and what I
mean by that is word of mouth is amazing creating
flyers or zines is so powerful and can help you
reach those that need to hear your message there
is something so organic and magical about picking
up a flyer somewhere or finding a little zine that
resonates so deeply with you so don't forget that
there are alternative ways of finding your people
out there that exist outside of the internet of
course we cannot do this alone i want you to find
a coven get a group of people together who will
uplift and support your artwork who will share
your work just like I'm asking you all to share
this episode with one of your friends who's been
shadowbanned I want you to also ask people to
share your work our connections to each other
are so much more powerful than these algorithms
could ever be and so let's leverage and use these
connections to amplify our impact in the world
make sure that you spotlight yourself and that you
spotlight others and that others put the spotlight
on you as well and I think it's so important to
speak up loudly about this happening it's one of
the reasons why I wanted to make this episode we
need to name the shadowban we need to let people
know that it's a real thing that it happens
it's happening it's going to continue to happen
normalize talking about it be public it's not
being bitter it's being real and I say this
with so much love i quiet quit Instagram this
year at the beginning of the year and not because
I didn't care but because I cared too much i have
a video that I've made about the reasons why
I quit and I'm going to be linking it in the
show notes as well as in this video if you're
watching on YouTube but I have so many reasons
why I've decided to quiet quit Instagram and
to put more of my energy and focus into this
podcast into my website into my newsletter and
my blog and in the time since I've made this big
decision I have felt so much more connected to my
community i have felt like more and more people
are becoming aware of me and my art practice i've
been so thrilled to receive messages from you all
via email via comments it's been so magical to
work with other webs that are not within these
algorithmic structures so don't feel like you have
to disappear if you want to get out of this shadow
ban you can just reroute your magic off the feed
and into the forest into real community so let's
just zoom out for a second what if the shadowban
is just a shadow the part of society that wants
to keep us hidden the part of us that is too wild
too scared too disruptive to be legible well guess
what witches live in the shadows artists thrive
in the unseen we don't need the validation of
these algorithms to be real we were never meant
to be palatable if the algorithm casts you out
bring as many people as you can with you become
uncensorable become the echo they cannot mute post
for the ones who find you in dreams make art for
the future archive write for the collective memory
your art is still a spell even when it's ghosted
even when it vanishes even when no one clicks like
and the ones who need your art the most they'll
find it they always do so if you've ever had
your voice disappear online this episode was made
just for you because I know I'm not alone in this
and if you're still in the algorithm trying to be
seen know that you're not alone keep casting your
spells just don't let them tell you that your
magic is not working because it's not trending
or going viral your art is still powerful it
is still making an impact whether or not the
algorithms approve of it do you want more of this
i want to encourage you again to sign up for my
newsletters this is the place where I share about
upcoming events projects collaborations i often
share about these episodes through my newsletter
as well and you can go to yourartisaspell.com
to sign up my newsletter is a place where I can
share uncensored unshadowbanned realness and also
I want to invite you to subscribe to this show on
YouTube as well as anywhere you get your podcast
and if you know anyone who's been shadowbanned or
silenced online I want you to share this episode
with them let's remind each other that we're not
alone in the shadows we have each other in the
dark because we were never meant to be quiet we
were meant to haunt and just know that our spirits
are so strong and that is one of the reasons why
these systems feel the need to shadowban us but
they don't understand that they're just making
us stronger more diverse weirder browner more
indigenous more witchy more radical they
are making their worst nightmare happen
we are here to haunt y'all we are here
to haunt them so be the best ghost be
the best shadowbanned monster and mutant
you can be and never forget that your art
is a spell and it will change your life
and the world around us see you all soon