Taj Mahal Comparison With Slums

About

Taj Mahal Comparison With Slums is an image macro series featuring an ariel photograph of the Taj Mahal and the surrounding neighborhoods. The image has been interpreted by many as showcasing the class differences and wealth inequalities of the region. The photo became popular in Indonesia in the middle of February 2020 as object labeling memes.

Origin

On March, 21st 2019, Instagram ^[1] user @jacob uploaded his photograph of Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The post was received more than 79.000 likes (shown below).

Spread

On August, 28th 2019, Reddit ^[2] user apache1195^[2] using the photo as a political compass meme and uploaded it to /r/memes subreddit, where the post received more than 14.000 points (87% upvoted) and 190 comments in less than one year (shown below, left). On the same day, another Reddit user Pinochet- shared the photo to /r/PoliticalCompassMemes^[3] subreddit.

The photo didn't get more attention until February 17th, 2020, when Twitter^[4] user @RadenKraton reposted @Jacob's photo as a reply for @syiphee's tweet about Taj Mahal photographs to reveal the "social gap" around Taj Mahal (shown below, center). The post received more than 35,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in less than one month.

After that, the photo became popular in Indonesian Users as object labeling. For example on February, 19th 2020, Twitter user @GurahPagina^[5] using the photo as object labeling to depicting the difference between area on Jakarta Garden City and the rest of Jakarta Timur, Indonesia. the tweet was received more than 1,800 retweets and 1,600 likes (shown below, right).

The photo spreading to another social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and many more. For example, on the same day, Facebook ^[6] user Pras Setio uploaded an object labeling meme using the photo to Facebook group "Keluh Kesah Kehidupan Ber Teknologi", the post was received more than 797 reactions (shown below).

On February, 21st and 23rd 2020, Indonesian media outlet Kumparan^[7] and IDN Times^[8] published a compilation of the meme.

Various Examples