18,000 Mexicans strip naked for Spencer Tunick
More than 18,000 people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square Sunday for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet.
The Brooklyn, N.Y., artist has become famous for photographing thousands of naked people in public settings worldwide, from London and Vienna to Buenos Aires and Buffalo.
But the Mexico City shoot dwarfed all others. Previously his best turnout had been 7,000 models in Barcelona, Spain, in 2003.
"I just create shapes and forms with human bodies. It's an abstraction, it's a performance, it's an installation," Tunick said. "So I don't care how many people showed up. All I know is that I filled up my space."
Men and women from a broad cross section of ages and social classes began arriving before dawn, although most volunteers were young men.
At 6:50 a.m., the disrobing began at Tunick's signal. Within minutes, the square was covered in exposed flesh and dark hair, a chanting, shouting, gleeful party in the light of dawn, the gathering framed by the metropolitan cathedral, City Hall and the National Palace.
"Nudity is part of human life," said Liliana Velasco, 30, an anthropologist. "Being naked is being in the moment, and being naked in the Zocalo gives everyone a chance to celebrate our culture."
Public nudity is hardly a novelty in Mexico City, where protesters often march through the streets wearing only their underwear or nothing at all.
The giant square is the scene of concerts, political rallies and parades. Most years, Mexico's president gives the annual cry for liberty from the National Palace balcony to kick off Independence Day celebrations
Tunick asked those in the crowd to pose in the Mexican salute, which is held not at the forehead but nipple-high. A woman lost her nerve and ran out of the crowd. She dressed and left in a hurry.
Tunick then asked that they lie down on the cold stones, feet facing north. By 7:30 a.m., the crowd was kneeling, head down, curled up in the so-called snail pose. It looked as if they were bowing to the cathedral, Mexico's oldest.
Shortly after 8 a.m., Tunick dismissed the men — about three-quarters of the crowd — and broke the spell that for a couple of hours had united several thousand strangers in a strange intimacy.
Tunick and his helpers directed the women into a corner of the Zocalo for one last shot as the men dressed. Many stayed to watch. Some cheered, injecting a bit of wolf-whistle attitude that was absent when everyone was naked.
Everybody was dressed by 9 a.m. as the street sweepers gave the Zocalo a once over.
More than 18,000 people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square Sunday for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet.
The Brooklyn, N.Y., artist has become famous for photographing thousands of naked people in public settings worldwide, from London and Vienna to Buenos Aires and Buffalo.
But the Mexico City shoot dwarfed all others. Previously his best turnout had been 7,000 models in Barcelona, Spain, in 2003.
"I just create shapes and forms with human bodies. It's an abstraction, it's a performance, it's an installation," Tunick said. "So I don't care how many people showed up. All I know is that I filled up my space."
Men and women from a broad cross section of ages and social classes began arriving before dawn, although most volunteers were young men.
At 6:50 a.m., the disrobing began at Tunick's signal. Within minutes, the square was covered in exposed flesh and dark hair, a chanting, shouting, gleeful party in the light of dawn, the gathering framed by the metropolitan cathedral, City Hall and the National Palace.
"Nudity is part of human life," said Liliana Velasco, 30, an anthropologist. "Being naked is being in the moment, and being naked in the Zocalo gives everyone a chance to celebrate our culture."
Public nudity is hardly a novelty in Mexico City, where protesters often march through the streets wearing only their underwear or nothing at all.
The giant square is the scene of concerts, political rallies and parades. Most years, Mexico's president gives the annual cry for liberty from the National Palace balcony to kick off Independence Day celebrations
Tunick asked those in the crowd to pose in the Mexican salute, which is held not at the forehead but nipple-high. A woman lost her nerve and ran out of the crowd. She dressed and left in a hurry.
Tunick then asked that they lie down on the cold stones, feet facing north. By 7:30 a.m., the crowd was kneeling, head down, curled up in the so-called snail pose. It looked as if they were bowing to the cathedral, Mexico's oldest.
Shortly after 8 a.m., Tunick dismissed the men — about three-quarters of the crowd — and broke the spell that for a couple of hours had united several thousand strangers in a strange intimacy.
Tunick and his helpers directed the women into a corner of the Zocalo for one last shot as the men dressed. Many stayed to watch. Some cheered, injecting a bit of wolf-whistle attitude that was absent when everyone was naked.
Everybody was dressed by 9 a.m. as the street sweepers gave the Zocalo a once over.
