Yesterday, artist/photographer/fashion designer/baker Christine H. McConnell took to Reddit to thank the community for their support of her work over the last two years.
Before joining the site, McConnell was a struggling, self-taught photographer who spent her weekends creating fun, quirky content across a range of artforms. It was a picture of a birthday cake, posted by her brother, that brought attention to her work when it went viral.
The following day, McConnell set up her own account on the site, and posted a single image, entitled “I am an artist…with a lot of free time :P”.
The post went on to receive over 2.3 million views, and nearly 2200 comments. Some were denigrating, but for the most part, the community was quick to support McConnell’s obvious talent.
As her craft developed, McConnell shared the results on Reddit. Users were quick to comment and critique – often in the scathing tone only found on the internet – but McConnell took their advice and applied it to her aesthetically alluring fusions of photography, fashion, and baking.
After only a few months, McConnell was approached by book publishers and TV production agencies in a bid to share her work with a broader audience. She signed a deal to produce two books – the first of which, Deceptive Deserts: A Lady’s Guide to Baking Bad!, releases today – and has hinted that she will be contributing to the next film from one of her favourite directors (Tim Burton, perhaps? The inspiration is clear).
McConnell’s story is the ultimate example of the power of Reddit. While those who are not users of the site often associate it with viral, shallow content, it is the community’s ability to dictate what posts receive the most attention through the voting system that makes it the most potent media platform for emerging artists to share their talent.
Without it, who knows if we’d be enjoying McConnell’s work as we are today?
For more of Christine H. McConnell’s story and images, be sure to visit her Instagram, or purchase her book on Amazon.