Visual art is an immediate and easily consumable reflection of society, and the way that particular concepts are constructed, deconstructed, and aestheticized tells us a lot about the preoccupations of any particular community in a given time period.

Contemporary art encompasses issues of power, love and agency: A list of the 25 post-1970 works of art that define the contemporary age, compiled by three artists and a pair of curators, and published by the New York Times, shows the topical and creative range of such works. A 1971 series of nearly 80 cartoons satirizing politicians, and particularly US President Richard Nixon, explored themes of insincerity and the abuse of power. Room-size installations in a run-down Hollywood mansion depicted graphic representations of the female body, and the way it is often appropriated and vilified. And a fragmented full-size copper replica of the Statue of Liberty, consisting of 250 pieces dispersed in public and private collections throughout the world, represented the hypocrisy and contradictions within Western foreign policy, according to its Danish-Vietnamese creator.

While the Pop Art movement of the 1950s and 60s poked fun at mass consumption: Pop Art, which describes art inspired by the imagery of popular culture, sought to challenge dominant cultural norms of austerity and seriousness seen in the art world of the 1940s. As a medium, it was (further) popularized by artists including Andy Warhol and Richard Hamilton. It made use of mundane objects ― often displayed out of context ― and heavy irony to satirize the burgeoning mass consumption of the era.

Playful and accessible, Pop Art shares some similarities with today’s Instagram culture. Our own tendency to glorify the banal (hello, pumpkin spice latte photos) says a lot about our society and what preoccupies us. And analyses of online content trends show that even the memes, GIFs and group selfies seem to be driven by a search for meaning, shared concern around a social issue (such as environmental degradation and sustainability), and human connection and interaction (or, in Insta-speak, “authenticity”).

In short, there’s a valid argument for describing your cat pictures as art.