Monday, June 08, 2009

Stark


In the words of William Blake "Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed". It's hard to believe that's it been almost 12 months since i participated in a Spencer Tunick shoot/instillation. 21st June 2008. Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year. With this i took a leap into the unknown (for me anyway!).

Tunick creates temporary site-specific landscapes involving nude figures and his installations follow on the tradition of land art. Working directly in the landscape, he "uses the nude body as raw material to intervene and transform a chosen site, documenting the installations with photography and video."

If you had said to me previously that I would be getting naked amongst 2500 others I would have laughed in your face. Me? Are you crazy? I've yet to venture out in public wearing a bikini so wearing my birthday suit in public was a terrifying thought. But in the early hours of June 21st naked was exactly what I was. When i first heard about it i thought to myself ‘now if only I’d have the nerve to do that’. Over a few days that thought morphed to "why wouldn’t I have the nerve to do it?!! Gravity is on my side and I may never get the chance again."


However i was having second thoughts and on the verge of backing out when the time came. Eventually i made my way down to the Poolbeg Lighthouse/Pier for 3am. It was a beautiful night; on my right side the Sandymount and Dun Laoghaire coastline appeared to be vibrating with orange twinkling lights. Floating above, the moon.
Gradually the people around me started to talk, the majority had come by themselves. It was strange, I’d yet to experience that kind of a laid back and jovial vibe from a non-festival crowd. People were sitting round talking. Sharing tea, hip flasks, cigarettes, stories and laughing in amazement at what we were about to do.



I left that morning with a huge grin and a feeling that's tough to put into words. Liberation? Elation perhaps? Pride at having had the nerve to go though with it. So i had a little lump in my throat when i saw the final pictures were released recently. It brought back flashes of cold, rough concrete, laughter, wind and a surreal feeling of unity. A once in a lifetime experience indeed!



To view the final shots and some video footage from both Dublin and Cork click on:

http://tunickireland.com/index.html



Nude: Spencer Tunick
Pier image:Aiden McCabe/Irish Ships

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get 'em out!

Green of Eye, Sharp of Claw said...

@Donal:

Classy gent as always:P

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