When I first
began writing about the naturist lifestyle I very soon came to realise that most of the
criticism came from people that for one reason or another were not so much
offended as extremely uncomfortable with the naked body – not only other people’s,
but their own too. After I while I began
to ponder on how I might help to make people more aware of the naturalness of
nudity and how natural nudity has been with us forever. For most of the time
that humans have been on this earth nudity was no more than a very ordinary
part of normal life – so if that fact could be simply and easily accepted by
people at all levels of society, then why all the fuss about a few naturists .
If
you are ever out on a shopping trip in the West End of London and fancy a
midday snack and drink in the company of people with a more artistic kind of bent than
the average Oxford Street shopper, then you couldn’t do better than to call into
the cafe at The Photographers’ Gallery. Only a stones throw away from The Palladium in nearby Argyll Street ,
it’s the largest public arena in London dedicated to the genre and has been
instrumental in establishing photography’s important role in culture and
society.
I discovered it some years ago when I
began a series called “Nudity in Ancient Culture” – describing and illustrating
a time when right across the world the human body in it’s naked form was depicted
everywhere, in worship as well as everyday life and even expressed in explicit
sexual detail on ordinary household
goods. After that I went on to compose another series
called “ Nudity in Art “ , beginning with early religious images and working my
way right through the ages and up to modern times.
There was no
shortage of things to write about, I
covered events as far apart as The Royal Academy in London to little back
street galleries and studios all over Europe and many of them were published over
the years in various international travel and art magazines. However , bad publicity over the past few
years it seemed created a kind of back
lash in the world of modern art and good old fashioned nudity went into hiding -
to be replaced by stuffed sheep in fish tanks , dirty unmade beds and pieces of
human excreta to name just a few , while the naked body was sidelined for a while.
But as usual,
things do eventually turn full circle – and the effect of this could be seen at
the end of 2013 in a show of modern photographic art in central London at the
aforementioned Photographers Gallery. Unfortunately
the exhibition finished in January 2014 but the fully illustrated book produced
to accompany the exhibition is still available from the Gallery
Bookshop.
‘Home Truths: Photography, Motherhood and
Identity ‘. was curated by the British writer Susan Bright who presently lives in New York
City and teaches at the School of Visual Arts there. Concerned about what seemed to be an insatiable
appetite for photographs of celebrity mums as well as the current trend to
photograph everything however inappropriate it might be, Ms Bright’s main aim was to challenge the
long held stereotypes of women and motherhood, but in fact it was much more
than that.
With work carefully selected from a dozen
highly talented international photographers from Israel ,Spain and Mexico as
well as the USA , this was a serious presentation not only about women and
motherhood, but also an intense reflection on a modern contemporary art
form.
All the work in this exhibition was of a high
quality, but for me some is worth a special mention. In most of the pictures the centrepiece of
the imagery is the mother figure often heavily pregnant , but not all. Leigh
Ladere for example , explores his relationship with his mother, a beautiful and talented ballet dancer in her early
career but reduced through circumstances to working as a stripper in later life
seen from his own viewpoint as the son. This is a most remarkable archive containing
photographs of their most private moments and as such is so explicit to give the
show an adult only rating.
Justine Kurland, an American fine art photographer whose work has been profiled in The New York Times, Vogue,
and Elle magazine was also represented in the accompanying
exhibition book. Her pictures of men , young women and children
often completely naked, wild, freakish looking and set amongst the most
incredible landscapes have quite rightly brought her due fame and recognition. It
is truly remarkable and in all my forty years study of art and nudity I have
never seen anything quite like it.
I sometimes wonder if my work over
the years has had any positive effect in changing the general perception of
nakedness, but I shall keep on trying for as long as I still have the strength.
In any case, each time I discover the kind of creative artistic ability in
exhibitions of this type I am encouraged to go on - and there’s more to come as
something quite new and equally positive has just popped up on the London scene
.
The Photographers Gallery is at Romillies Street,
London W1.
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