Ivette Spradlin’s Instagram page is filled to the brim with images of people in masks posed in front of colorful and creative-looking homes, their gaze fixed on the photographer who takes their picture from at least 6 feet away.

When she was a young artist in first grade, Ciara Gray brought an assignment to the front of the class to show the teacher her work — how she’d ripped a portrait from a magazine in half and pasted...