Spencer Tunick’s photographs seek to complicate purely erotic associations of the naked body. He photographs small and large groups of naked people in natural and urban landscapes, such as Times Square, the Dead Sea, the Sydney Opera House, and the beaches of Maui. In 2007, Tunick organized a shoot of more than 18,000 participants, who laid down nude in loosely organized rows, covering Mexico City’s Zocalo Square. His photographs constitute impromptu social events that, in spite of the awkwardness of public nudity, encourage positive attitudes toward the naked body. Tunick has said that his work is “about the freedom to own your body. The government does not own your body. It’s definitely the body being touched with the environment and the social order of things.“ In recent years, the artist has turned to painting in order to highlight the ways the body is politicized.
