I finally got around to watching the show on Spencer Tunick that my DVR captured for me. I've seen some of his work before but I never knew his real motivation until seeing the show. I didn't know whether he was an "artist" or just someone hiding behind a profession that exists to feed some secret fetish. It was like when I was a kid and read a book about the psychic powers of plants. In the book the man said when he injured himself the EEG hooked up to the plant would spike. He said he he started killing sperm instead because it was easy to get and didn't hurt as much. I always wondered if the guy got caught masturbating somewhere and then wrote the book book as an elaborate diversion to distract from that fact. He was doing it for science. Anyway, I thought it may have some relevance to the afore mentioned artist.
Having seen the show though, I think he's genuine. Many people participate in his events as their own little way of saying "fuck you" to the "establishment", some others do it just for the thrill, but the story I admired the most was of a young woman who had been gang raped and then used the experience with Spencer Tunick as a significant part of her healing process. A lot of healing comes from being able to look at your own naked body and see the good things in it.
The one thing that surprised me the most is that Tunick is not a nudist. In fact, he was visibly freaked out while being nude at a nudist retreat. He complained about a lack of pockets for his film and that we nudists just don't cooperate with instructions. Those textiles can be so silly. I'm not sure how it is at other family nudist resorts, but where I go, it is best to stay away from the ends of the pool because they play seriously aggressive volley ball and you're likely to get pelted with a ball.
If you ever read this Spencer, consider doing a photo shoot of nude physically disabled people. With the rampant physical and sexual abuse of the disabled as children, perhaps it could be used to give us our turn for healing or just to perhaps give a great big "screw you" to the mainstream's perception of beauty. I would be there in a heartbeat.