BRISTOL LIVES It’s the lovely Jess Siggers

JESS SIGGERS The leader of Bristol’s Instagram community plays a unique role in promoting the city – purely for the love of Bristol

Few people are more passionate about Bristol than Jess Siggers; even fewer possess the kind of skills needed to share that passion with the wider world.

Along with her trademark photos of Bristol’s colourful terraces, along with the occasional balloon and rainbow, Jess has utilised her ninja social media skills to build @igersbristol into the biggest IGers community in the UK outside London. The last time we checked, its followers stood at over 30k, while Jess’s own account, @porthjess, has an impressive 43.8k.

For the uninitiated, please tell us what IGers Bristol does (and how you pronounce it) We’re the Bristol branch of IGers (pronounced eye-gee-urs! IG = abbreviation of Instagram), a global photographers and instagrammers community which first began in Madrid ten years ago. Our own community started up in 2014.

What do you most love about being part of the IGers community? The thing I love most is that it’s all based on love! And nothing else. We’re just volunteers who love our city so much, we think the rest of the world should love it too. We promote local instagrammers and events just because they’re nice, and we want to, and we don’t expect anything back in return.

We know that it’s the largest active IGers community in the UK outside London – why do you think this is? I believe our city’s ridiculous creativeness levels have a lot to do

“We’re all about ‘Bristol love, not likes’”

with it, but also the warmth and friendliness of our people – the members of our community are so supportive of each other.

How did IGers Bristol react to lockdown – were you still active, or did you decide it was better to take a pause? We kept going through lockdown, trying to bring joy and hope via photography. But the toppling of Colston derailed us temporarily. We had expectations placed on us to be a guiding light, but as an all-white team, we were mere pupils rather than educators, and didn’t do a great job at passing the mic. With personal issues on top of this for all three of us (including Ben, who was stepping down), we needed to take time out to reflect and rebuild with new, more inclusive intentions.

You’ve come back with a brand-new team – care to tell us a bit about them and what they all bring to the mix? Well we’ve got Bobbi on electric guitar, an awesome Miami native who’s adopted Bristol as her new home city, and a champion of black women in tech. On drums we have Imogen, a fabulous queer, bodypositive advocate and mayonnaise expert. Mariel’s got one hand playing the keyboard and the other baking something delicious, and that woman knows how to take a stunning photo. Then in the back you’ve got myself and Rich, bashing away at rainbow-coloured tambourines and hoping people like our vibe.

Is there a negative side to Instagram, and do you have any advice to anyone who feels anxious about it all? It’s incredibly easy to feel you’re not good enough on Instagram, especially when the ‘rules’ for getting maximum exposure for your photos seem to change daily. My advice? Let it all go. Post consistently from the heart and only what you love. The right people will find you eventually. We’re all about ‘Bristol love, not likes’.

You don’t just post up pretty pictures; you also play an active role in supporting many Bristol events. Tell us about a few of them We’re big supporters of Bristol’s arts and culture so love to work with venues such as Spike Island, RWA, Bristol Museum and M Shed, along with our many festivals including Bristol Balloon Fiesta, Upfest, Bristol Light Fest and more, to bring unique photo opportunities to our community and promote the venue or event in the process.

What else do you do outside IGers? I create campaign- or live-eventbased content for a few different Bristol agencies, but obviously as that’s all gone a bit quiet at the moment I’m mainly concentrating on opening a new online print store.

Do you have any secret skills? I was a singer in the late ’90s and early noughties, with regular slots at The Fleece, Fiddlers, the now defunct Rummer Underground club and the late great Bar Med.

... and what’s your most regrettable habit? I care way too much about everything and haven’t relaxed in about seven years.

We’d better let you get on; what are you doing immediately after answering these questions? Grabbing a coffee with a friend at Twelve in Clifton Village followed by the school run, then an evening of work. Ah the freelance life.

More about Jess at porthjess.com and @porthjess on Instagram Follow IGers Bristol at @igersbristol

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