Utopias TikTok Series

The Utopias TikTok Series was a multi-year experiment in digital art history — bringing the works of BIPOC and queer artists, cultural workers, and historians to the forefront of contemporary discourse. Through sharp, accessible video essays, the series highlighted figures like Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Lauren Halsey, rafa esparza, and Joey Terrill, offering a counter-archive that resisted the erasure of radical art histories. Each video was meticulously researched, written, recorded, and edited, transforming social media into a site of memory work and collective knowledge.

By merging Esteban Arellano’s training as an artist and art historian with the immediacy of short-form video, Utopias opened the door for wider audiences to see art’s relevance beyond the ivory tower. The series built an engaged digital community, fostering conversation, dialogue, and connection — amassing hundreds of thousands of views and likes in the process.