American photographer Spencer Tunick has conducted another mass photo shoot with nude volunteers. This time he photographed about 2,500 people at the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Tunik photographed his models in the rays of the rising sun. The project was designed to remind Australians of the importance of regular skin cancer screening.
According to the international organization World Cancer Research Fund, Australians suffer from the disease more than residents of any other country in the world. It is predicted that in 2022, approximately 17.7 thousand Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer (melanoma) and approximately 1.3 thousand will die from the disease. The photoshoot is being organized in partnership with the charity Skin Check Champions.
Those who wanted to take part in the photo shoot started gathering at the beach at half past three in the morning local time. “We have the opportunity to draw attention to the problem of skin cancer, and it is a great honor for me to be here, practicing my art and paying tribute to the human body and its protection,” Tunic told Reuters agency. One of the participants in the photo shoot, 77-year-old Australian Bruce Fisher, told AFP: “I have spent my whole life in the sun and have had several malignant melanomas removed from my back. I think this is a worthy cause and I enjoy taking my clothes off on Bondi Beach. In order for a photographer to be able to realize his project, the laws in Australia were specifically changed to prohibit nudity on the beach.
Spencer Tunick has been organizing flash mobs of naked people for his photo installations for about 30 years. Since 1992, he has announced the location and time of his next project in advance, inviting anyone who is interested to join in. No more than one and a half thousand people participated in his first “nude installations,” but gradually more and more people wanted to make their bodies part of contemporary art. In Barcelona in 2003, seven thousand people posed for Tunick, and in Mexico City in 2007, eighteen thousand.
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