DON’T
LOOK
NOW
Don’t Delete Art’s contribution to the groundbreaking exhibition curated by Art At A Time Like This
FEATURING
Alphachanneling, Elsa Marie Keefe, Emma Shapiro, Eva Mueller, Jarid Blue, Jennifer O’Connell, Leah Schrager, Reuben Negron, Robert Andy Coombs, and Savannah Spirit
October 10-25, 2025 | 127 Elizabeth St. NYC
Lost in Ecstasy, 2024
“It’s surreal: platforms bombard us with algorithmically boosted sexual marketing and thirst traps, while art celebrating love, intimacy, and the human body is flagged as violating community standards. This contradiction has cost me the deletion of an account I built over a decade with more than a million followers, and it makes censorship almost impossible to explain. Most people assume there’s a line you have to cross, but even the most benign artistic expression can erase your community and voice. Moderation is fully automated, with AI systems enforcing censorship blindly and without accountability.”
ALPHACHANNELING
Bodies As Land, 2021
"Censorship has changed my life. And not for the better. As much as I try to see the good in all things, thinking there should be a takeaway for the bigger picture, it remains almost impossible for me to see the silver lining as I am continuously deleted and banned across the digital landscape. I've lost access to so many platforms. Instagram is constantly taking down my images, vimeo banned and deleted me, I lost thousands of dollars, even my website was deleted through squarespace without my consent and with no way of talking to a human being, no way to explain myself, show my art, defend my case. I'm constantly being labeled a pornographer, while that is the very topic I attempt to heal and contend with through my art...Recently I've had to take a step back and question everything. I question whether making art and following my heart is worth my time anymore, I'm ready to give up and cave to societal conditioning, ready to get a normal job. My visibility is little to none online. I've been climbing or fighting an uphill battle for years now. I've been stuck in survival mode for my entire adult life and things continue to get worse as censorship continues to increase, especially as AI and robots are making decisions about what is and isn't allowed online. I'm heartbroken. I'm at the end of the rope, trying with every ounce of my soul to hold on to some semblance of hope."
ELSA MARIE KEEFE
Cuerpa Cuts, 2020
“How does it feel to have your artwork misunderstood? That’s a feeling I’m used to — most artists who use the body are familiar with audiences who misunderstand the purpose of using the body… But because of how my artwork is treated online, the implications are so much broader than individuals who don’t ‘get’ it. When artwork like mine is taken down, is downranked, is restricted, it means that those who can learn from new visions of what the body means, of what a woman’s body can mean, are unable to access it. They lose the chance to advance understanding of art and our bodies, and that is such a detriment to our society as a whole, and to the art world. There is damage taking place on a scale that is very real, and dangerously invisible.”
EMMA SHAPIRO
Morgan, 2017
“I’ve run into quite a bit of censorship online, even when the work is so cropped and reduced it barely shows anything. I noticed already back in 2022, when AI wasn’t as advanced as it is now, images disappearing almost instantly — way too fast for a human at Meta to have looked at them — which really creeped me out. It felt like the AI wasn’t just scanning content but actually trying to read “sexual intent” into art, which is a VERY SCARY THOUGHT for any artist.”
EVA MUELLER
Jarid Blue Rainbow Light Bath Loop, 2022
Model: Flora
“Social media algorithms consistently suppress artistic nudity and the human form, forcing artists to self-censor or risk shadowbanning and deletion. This limits authentic expression and creates a culture where bodies and identity become 'inappropriate' rather than celebrated.”
JARID BLUE
Bathroom Scenes, 2024
“My artwork has been heavily reported, censored and weaponized against me, online, at my job, and in my personal life since at least 2008 when I first started sharing it through social media. I've been banned, shadowbanned, reprimanded, insulted, condemned, and threatened with being reported to officials within the department of education because I am the subject of my artwork and at times my body is nude either in doll form or as drawings and paintings. This has created repeating cycles of existential crisis, then transcendance and rebirth. So be it.”
JENNIFER O’CONNELL
Limited Reach, 2023
“Throughout my career, I've encountered online censorship on numerous platforms, with Instagram initially presenting a creative challenge that inspired innovations like my Infinity Selfie series. However, in recent years there's no more play - the worsening severity of shadow banning and limited reach just sucks.”
LEAH SCHRAGER
But The Light Will Give Us No Peace, 2023
“Over the last dozen years, I’ve seen my images deleted, my account suppressed, and had the ability to communicate with my audience severely handicapped - all for “going against” often arbitrary and opaque “guidelines.” But what hurts most is how I’ve witnessed online censorship shift attitudes in the physical world on what can be shown and what cannot. We are at a point, once again, where discourse and representation of our own bodies is no longer welcome in the very places it used to thrive.”
REUBEN NEGRON
Not a sub bitch, 2017
“Online censorship erases my work while social media rewards mediocrity — galleries and brands confuse popularity with talent, leaving boundary-pushing queer and disabled art invisible.”
ROBERT ANDY COOMBS
Waiting, 2022
“Every time my work is taken down it feels like a gut punch. My heart drops into my stomach and I feel powerless. I am immediately taken out of the excitement of sharing it and no longer feel good about the work. I feel judged and misunderstood. Censorship is a painful experience.”