It was the summer of 2022 when I first bumped into Karla Chichil, better known as Karla Museos’, account. The world was still figuring out a “new normal” after the Covid-19 pandemic, and I was eager to discover more of Mexico City through its seemingly endless supply of museums. The Instagram algorithm must’ve known this because one day, it suggested Karla’s account, a page dedicated to Mexican museums and Mexican culture.
Her content immediately drew me. Back then, Karla had a few thousand followers on Instagram. Now, she’s amassed over 265,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok combined.
“When I hit the first 1,000 followers, I couldn’t believe it,” she told me recently over a Zoom chat. “I thought that number wouldn’t increase because I couldn’t fathom that many people were interested in museums.” Now, visiting museums in Mexico City is trendy.
“It became popular about five years ago,” she told me. When I suggested she had something to do with it, she was too shy to admit it. “I want to believe so!” she said.
Karla launched her Instagram account a decade ago while studying advertising. “I was advised I needed an Instagram account to find a job in the industry. But back then people posted selfies, and I wasn’t into selfies, so I began to share pictures of the museums I visited because I was already spending so much time in them” she said.
A post shared by Karla Gaby Cl (@karlamuseos) Karla found museums to be an “oasis in the city”.