It was a few years ago and I was...somewhere. I warned you it was vague, right? Well OK, let's narrow it down. I was in an art gallery. In, most likely, either Berlin, Paris, Vienna or London. Or there was a mild chance it was Liverpool. But that sounds less glamourous, right?
Anyway, I was in an art gallery, in ...a city... and I was marauding in my usual style. My eyes came to rest on a particular work, a photo of an installation in New York's Grand Central Station. An installation of naked people.
Gradually, over the next year or so, I became more aware of the artist, Spencer Tunick. An American artist who specialises in installations of nude people arranged in urban locations across the world.
Tunick on Wiki - see wiki for all the installations he has been involved in.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago, and in the run up to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, it was announced that Spencer Tunick was coming to Sydney, to stage a large-scale nude installation called 'The Base' at Sydney Opera House. And he needed volunteers. So Mark and I signed up.
Fast forward to Monday the 1st of March 2010. Our alarms went off at 3am. By 4am, a taxi dropped us off to join over 5000 other people in pitch dark at Circular Quay where we handed in consent forms and received plastic bags in which to place our belongings, before being led into a specially fenced off area of the Botanic Gardens to await the sunrise and our instructions.
It was a chilly morning, under 15 degrees, and the prospect of being naked wasn't too appealing at that point. But still, as 6am rolled around the organisers instructed us to remove our clothes and make our way in groups towards the front steps of the Opera House. Everything had to be left, except obviously tattoos. We were told "unless you came out of your mother with it, leave it in your bag". People with glasses were allowed to take them but shown how to hold them in such a way that they would not be seen on the camera.
It was such a strange experience! Worth it entirely for the bizarre experience of being legitimately completely naked in such an iconic location. The whole thing actually felt strangely natural. A cheer went up as each group were led onto the steps. There was such a variety of people there - young people, old people, some you could even describe as elderly, fat people, thin people, pregnant women, all walks of life! My overriding impression was that without clothes, everyone looks strangely similar. It goes to show how much identity comes from our clothes and other bodily additions.
We were posing in the end for about an hour, being directed into all sorts of different positions, including lying down, embracing the people around you (Mark and I were both glad the other was there at that point as some people had to hug a stranger!), looking up, facing the front, facing the back, facing the bridge... The whole area was fenced off but very occasionally a stray jogger appeared in the gardens, only to be faced by several security guards running towards them waving their arms. We got a lot of honks from passing ferries!
By the end, I was glad to put my clothes back on as it was becoming seriously cold - I felt chilled right through and a bit ill. It was all over by before 8am and I made my way into work to find the Sydney papers already had the event covered on their online headlines!
[from http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/spencer-tunick/2010/03/01/1267291832800.html]
You can actually see us both quite clearly in this picture! We were quite near the front on the left! Any guesses? Haha. Also, I was kind of disappointed at the time that the sky was so overcast, but I actually really like the contrast of all the greys of the Opera House and the sky, and then the pink of all the naked people.
There was a much clearer, closer up photo on the MX (free commuter paper, like the british Metro) later that day in which I was more clearly visible. I'll scan it if I can. I am quite excited that I've been on the front page of the MX, although slightly weirded that everyone in my work has seen me naked! Haha. I'm excited to see the finished photos, which will be at a different angle (the press area was off to the side), as well as the ones he took later of people inside the Opera House.
I felt rubbish for the rest of the day, so sleepy, but now I've recovered I'm so glad I went. It was such a crazy, unique experience and it's exciting to think I might see myself hanging on the wall of an art gallery one day in the future!
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We didn't do a lot else for Mardi Gras this year. We missed the parade on Saturday night as we had both been out drinking on Friday and didn't really feel like it, but I'm a bit annoyed looking back that we missed it.
I did see a really good short film documentary on tv the other night though, about a Sydney drag queen and personality who was a big human rights activist and who had been HIV positive for many years. I cannot remember the name of the guy or his alter ego which is disappointing, but they showed interviews with him both as his self and as queen and it was really interesting. He seemed such a wonderful, selfless, intelligent person who really understood the big picture: if you want rights for yourself, you need to want them for every single person, whoever and whatever they are.
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