Australian TikTok creator Mary McGillivray brings art history to a Gen Z audience as _theiconoclass

It took an investigation and a drug test to prove that the lead singer of Italy's winning Eurovision entry was not taking drugs in the green room of the 2021 ceremony. But perhaps Damiano David should've looked to art history to clear his name.

Twenty-five-year-old Melburnian Mary McGillivray used her understanding of linear perspective — gleaned through her study of Renaissance art — to prove that the singer was innocent in a TikTok posting that quickly reached five million views.

"Basically, I looked at the footage of this alleged incident and realised that the angles and lines did not line up. It was all an optical illusion," McGillivray told the ABC's 'The Art Show'.

"A lot of people think that TikTok is just for silly dance videos and memes, but there's so many amazing subcultures on the app and one of them is the art history side of TikTok."

Posting under the name _theiconoclass, she breaks down art movements, reveals hidden meanings in artworks, and analyses the art of pop cultural phenomena including Lizzo's Rumors music video, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.

"I am an art history TikToker, an art history communicator and more broadly, an art history influencer — which is a very new category of thing to be," says McGillivray.

"I describe it [my TikTok] as a Zoomer outreach program for art history education … I love communicating the more stuffy side of art history to a Gen Z audience, in a fun way."

What makes a good TikTok?

McGillivray was raised by an art history teacher and a museum curator.

"I was pretty much raised in museums and historical sites, it's in my blood … so I've always been really interested in art history, and more broadly in visual cultural history."

McGillivray completed an honours degree in art history at the University of Melbourne in 2019, after which she planned to undertake further study at Cambridge University — and then, COVID-19 happened.

In the middle of Melbourne's lengthy second lockdown, she turned to TikTok.

"I was locked inside, pretty depressed and looking for something to do with my time," she recalls. "[So] I decided to combine my art history knowledge with my skills in making videos, to start making content on TikTok."

McGillivray had been introduced to TikTok when she edited the platform's first narrative series: Love Songs.

"I had to learn really fast what makes a good TikTok," she says of the experience.

McGillivray says the key to successful longer TikToks (the duration limit on videos was recently expanded from one to three minutes) is grabbing the audience within the first six seconds and then ensuring that there is something to keep them engaged every 10 seconds.

Another important element is tapping into popular TikTok sounds: the songs and other bits of audio uploaded and shared by users that are then repurposed in other videos.

One of McGillivray's first TikToks to reach one million views — about a secret insult in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling — used a sound that had gone viral: a harp version of Rae Sremmurd's Come Get Her.

She was posting fairly regularly — up to three videos a day — for a few months before she started to build a following. But within six months, McGillivray had 250,000 followers.

'Art history is just old memes'

Art requires time and attention (it's not advisable to rush through a gallery) which is why the brevity of a TikTok might seem antithetical to appreciating and understanding art.

"I don't see my role as providing immense depth on any topic on TikTok, it's impossible to do that in a minute," McGillivray concedes.

"I see my role as encouraging people to be interested in something they may not have been completely interested in before … encouraging people to not feel intimidated by the world of art and art history — because it is pretty intimidating for people who haven't had the privilege of having an art history education, or having access to museums and galleries."

One of McGillivray's most popular TikTok series teaches her followers how to recognise artists and art movements (e.g. "If it's got cute babies, it's Baroque. But if it's got ugly babies, it's Medieval").

Another series, which she describes as an "Art History 101", includes videos about iconography and contrapposto.

"Every generation has to be reintroduced to the basics, and to the things that we take for granted," she says.

But McGillivray doesn't just introduce her followers to Leonardo and Michelangelo, she also introduces them to lesser-known or overlooked artists like Artemisia Gentileschi, a master Baroque painter whose work is finally being celebrated.

"[It's] such a really cool thing to be able to do … adding women artists into the western canon is quite a privilege," she says.

Her TikTok handle's slug-line reads "art history is just old memes".

McGillivray says: "It's not to belittle it [art history] in any way … It's to make art history more accessible, but also to elevate memes."

She adds that online meme culture involves layers of iconography, irony and reference.

"If you've done any study in art history, you'll know … the majority of European art history is exactly the same."

Community and content

TikTok clearly has broad appeal, but its algorithm (which does have a dark side) quickly tailors the individual's experience and leads users to niche content areas, including swathes of videos under hashtags like historicaldress, yiddishtok and pompomart.

McGillivray says she feels part of a thriving international community of art history TikTokers, who she keeps in touch with via Whatsapp.

"It's really cool to know that there are people all around the world who are interested in the same stuff as you, and also want to communicate it to people for free," she says.

McGillivray recommends Hawaiian artist Dane Nakama (umeboi) and New York artist Colette Bernard (artistcolette).

She also recommends Australian history TikToker Liz (purplewood).

McGillivray has her frustrations with the platform, including how certain features and the Creator Fund — which pays successful creators — either aren't available in the Australian edition of the app or only arrive after a delay.

She adds: "TikTok, like all online platforms, can encourage burnout and a potentially unhealthy relationship with creating content.

"Which is why I find it so important to be very self-aware about what I'm trying to do and why I'm trying to do it … the point for me is to communicate with people and engage people, it's not to become famous."

McGillivray plans to continue making content when she finally gets to Cambridge, but intends to continue shifting to longer-form content — like her recent YouTube essays.

"I feel like I'm moving more towards doing more in-depth or developing less frequent content, but I'd like to be able to continue making stuff."

Story By | Hannah Reich