They’re naked and apart, but they’re not alone.
Much of artist-photographer Spencer Tunick’s work features nude bodies in public spaces. Unable to shoot in person due to the coronavirus pandemic, he created his current exhibition by having 10 people at a time expose their naked forms on group videoconferences.
“I think, as photographers and artists working with groups of people, we need to learn how to adapt and not be stifled by limitations during these trying times,” Tunick says in a press release. “New ways of connectivity will evolve, creating innovative human connectivity with social distancing in mind. The desire to make art communally still burns hot.”
The series, called “Stay Apart Together,” has featured participants everywhere from Thailand, South Africa and the US to India, Denmark and Lebanon. The photos, which are posted to the virtual gallery of Tunick’s Instagram account, are meant to convey that there are still ways we can be together — online and in spirit — during this dark time of forced isolation.
The ongoing series will feature even more nude bodies in future shots. Tunick, who has never directed work entirely online before, says he plans to include as many as 100 naked individuals in upcoming videoconference shoots.
“In a matter of days, we shifted from being together in ballrooms, bars, stadiums, museums and galleries into finding ourselves celebrating virtual weddings, birthday parties and concerts through our screens,” says “Stay Apart Together” curator Alonso Gorozpe. “ ’Stay Apart Together’ is a first step into the exploration into this new normal way of coexisting.”
For participants, being in the series has been life-affirming.
“Knowing that everyone around the world is going through more or less the same thing has created a sense of unity I had never felt before,” says series participant Sara Gonzalez. “For me, this project is a visual reminder that even isolation can be an act of love.”
