"Naturism is for people between the age of 0 and 100 who have skin all over." So says Mick Ayers from the International Naturist Federation. "Being naked brings a sense of equality".
He has been stripping for the best part of half a century and knows the best places in the world to go as well as the worst. Avoid the Middle-East, he says, and in Japan communal nudity is frowned upon even though nakedness amongst people of the same sex is commonplace. But there is one country in the world which is a naturist's paradise: Spain. The constitution allows nudity anywhere, whether you are soaking up the sun on the beach in the Costa Brava or shopping in the streets of Barcelona.
The austere years of the Franco period of dictatorship were superseded by a desire for more freedom and the Spanish embraced their newfound rights with alacrity. These rights have also been put to the test with nudists deliberately walking through major city streets. They may attract public attention, but the police do not come rushing at them with blankets and a strategically placed helmet. Naked sculpture
Mick Ayers has protested in Madrid himself after the mayor at the time refused permission for nudists to use the municipal swimming pool. They took to the streets of the capital instead and within 24 hours the mayor capitulated. However, Spain is unique. In most countries in the world outside of Europe, nudity is not just frowned upon but it can even be dangerous. In fact, almost anywhere, nakedness in a public place outside of a designated beach is illegal and it is likely to stay that way.
The human body seems to have become an embarrassment in all its forms. The Norwegian sculptor Kirsten Kokkin knows this only too well. Her seven-feet bronze sculpture called Triangle with a naked man and woman holding up another naked woman was meant to represent a need for cohesion in society. Ms Kokkin says:
"It was originally commissioned by a Norwegian company as a symbol for health, environment and safety in the workplace, to show the dependency of working together in order to have all those elements work - a symbol of how men and women have to rely on each other in order to build a future together - and when it is nude it is timeless."
Triangle was placed on a roundabout in the town of Loveland in Colorado, a place well known for its sculpture. But it was not appreciated. The naked form was too naked and was described as being in bad taste by some residents, who said that there was nowhere in the US Bill of Rights that allows for public nudity.
Kirsten Kokkin describes the ensuing controversy as a witch hunt, but despite a sizeable number of people who wanted the sculpture to remain in situ, the smaller number of protestors won the day and it was removed. It was only a partial victory though; Triangle is now tucked away amongst the bushes in a corner of Loveland's sculpture park. Ms Kokkin:
"It was a huge surprise to me and an interesting experience. I learned a lot from it and I would absolutely do the same sculpture again. It is interesting that people can take an image and make their own opinion of it and then make it the creator's fault. It was meant to be a spiritual image."
Ms Kokkin's next project is a commission from a church in Norway for a naked Christ.
New York vs Amsterdam nudes
Another artist who has used almost solely the naked form in his work and has gained an international reputation as a consequence, is the photographer Spencer Tunick. He has photographed large groups of nudes in the most unlikely of places. Last year 18,000 people stripped in the main square of Mexico City and for his latest work a couple of thousand nudes filed into the stadium that will soon host the final of the European Football Championships.
The filmmaker Jill Woodward has taken part in two of Mr Tunick's shoots. One was in New York in 2002 and the other was last year in a spiral car park in Amsterdam. The two experiences couldn't have been more contrasting. In New York nudity was totally forbidden and the shoot had to be done very quickly before any police could be warned. It was also done on the low-down, hidden away from public view.
In Amsterdam in 2007 however, spectators gathered and cars tooted their horns. It was a mix of intrigue, bewilderment and amusement. Jill enjoyed the experience and took part not just for the thrill, but also for Tunick's artistic vision. As she rode home fully clothed on her bicycle, she reflected on the morning's work:
"I couldn't help thinking that I could find more personal expression by keeping my clothes on," she says. And that's something that Mick Ayers cannot agree on:
"For me, going naked is the ultimate form of self-expression and liberation and once you have done it, there is no going back."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4XLhgg_WEo
