One hundred nude women will gather for a photo shoot in Cleveland during the week of the GOP convention.
Spencer Tunick, a photographer who reportedly “specializes in large-scale nude shots,” told Cleveland Scene he plans to photograph the women at sunrise on July 17, one day before the convention begins.
“The photograph will involve 100 nude women holding large mirror discs, reflecting the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of ‘Mother Nature’ into and onto the convention center, cityscape and horizon of Cleveland,” Tunick explained on his website.
“By holding mirrors, we hope to suggest that women are a reflection and embodiment of nature, the sun, the sky and the land. We want to express the belief that we will rely upon the strength, intuition and wisdom of progressive and enlightened women to find our place in nature and to regain the balance within it.”
He continued, “The mirrors communicate that we are a reflection of ourselves, each other, and of the world that surrounds us. The woman becomes the future and the future becomes the woman.”
The 49-year-old New York-based artist developed the plan to photograph 100 nude women with his wife and said, “The work is for my daughters.”
Tunick told Cleveland Scene that the city of Cleveland was not yet aware of his plans, but he was “very excited” to see what happens.
Selected participants will be contacted via email before July 10 with information about the location of the shoot. Anyone age 18 or older may apply, and Tunick said he is searching for 100 women “of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities and skin tonalities.”
As for Tunick’s next projects, he hopes to visit Washington, D.C., and create a “fantasy scene” involving former President John Quincy Adams, whose tenure lasted from 1825-29.
“I wanted to have John Quincy Adams walking from the White House and jumping in the Potomac River naked and skinny-dipping, for example,” Tunick told Scene. “I had this idea to have conceptually and physically impossible works with the body in a fantasy scene, a mosaic art film that would document the installation.”
