A. Ragnauth: Expanding the Frame

For weeks, Rooted in Culture existed everywhere except where it was actually supposed to live lol. It existed in my proposal, research, project plan, canva , and honestly? mostly in my head. This week, I finally turned all of that planning into something real and launched the Instagram page.

Before sharing any photographs and stories, I needed to figure out what Rooted in Culture actually looked like. I developed the visual identity using warm, earthy colors, serif typography, and simple graphic elements that felt connected to R.I.C without overpowering the photography. From there, I created the logo, Instagram bio, and first three introductory posts.

One source I kept coming back to while developing the page was South Queens Women’s March. Looking at how the organization uses its platform to highlight community, culture, and people in South Queens reminded me that R.I.C should feel connected to the community it represents. It influenced me to think beyond simply creating a visually appealing Instagram page and focus more on creating a space where Indo-Caribbean culture and stories can actually be highlighted.

I also researched Instagram storytelling and content strategy while developing the page. I realized that visual consistency doesn’t mean every post needs to look identical. Instead, I can use the same colors, typography, tone, and branding while allowing different types of content to exist within the same feed.

Then came the hard part, actually posting it. Once those first three posts went up, Rooted in Culture stopped feeling like an idea for a class project and started feeling like something I was actually building. I shared it with my friends and even they liked the idea and feel its sustainable especially within our community. There is still a lot more to create, but finally seeing the page live gave me a clearer sense of where I wanted to take the project next.