Stockholm Archipelago on Instagram—Landscape Imaginaries of Two Hashtags

Stockholm archipelago’s exalted position in the national narrative of Sweden was invented during the second half of the 19th century when writers and artists started to depict the archipelago as an idyllic rural region. Previous studies have shown that the landscape imaginaries of Stockholm archipelago have successfully migrated over different media for more than a century. However, it has not been investigated whether social media has influenced the imaginaries. The aim of this study is to investigate how the landscape imaginaries of Stockholm archipelago have been influenced by representations of the region on Instagram. By utilizing Instagram posts pertaining to Stockholm archipelago, the present case study aims to investigate how established landscape imaginaries appear in the light of visual conventions, online environment, and social codes that accompany social media. The analytical approach stems from the concept of landscape imaginaries, how collective understandings and representations of landscape render space. The method combines thematic analysis, netnography, and semiotic analysis. Research on how Instagram influences landscape imaginaries suggests that Instagram induced landscapes have the ability to change material life in certain places and that it has the capacity to rejuvenate criticized dormant discourses, like colonial ones. This study, however, suggests that the landscape imaginaries of Stockholm archipelago on Instagram not only cement, but reinforce the established imaginary archipelago. This is especially done through conventional romantic landscape pictures which defy the idea of social media’s anticipated proliferation of individual and unique representations of the world.