Photographer Spencer Tunick successfully staged another of his famous nude photo shoots early this morning in Cleveland. The project, called Everything She Says Means Everything, involved 100 nude women standing across from the Quicken Loans Arena the day before the Republican National Convention will begin there. The women held large round mirrors in front of their faces, "reflecting the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of 'Mother Nature' into and onto the convention center, cityscape, and horizon of Cleveland," SpencerTunickCleveland.com states.
"Republicans, Democrats, and all other political parties were welcome to take part reflecting their anger through art against the hateful repressive rhetoric of many in the Republican Party towards women and minorities," the project synopsis says. More than 1,800 women volunteered for the shoot when it was announced.
The photographer has been staging photos with massive numbers of naked subjects in public places since 1994. Earlier this year, Tunick told Esquire that he'd been planning to do something at the RNC since 2013. "I could never have imagined there would be such a heightened attention to the male-versus-female dynamic of this Cleveland juggernaut of a convention," he told the magazine. "But I feel like doing this will sort of calm the senses. It brings it back to the body and to purity."
"The symbolism of the setting and theme of this photograph touches my heart in many ways," says one woman in a statement on SpencerTunickCleveland.com.
"I feel a sensitivity towards the timing of the photo occurring at the same time as the Republican National Convention that, to me, speaks for a voice that often is unheard or attempted to be silenced. This voice is that of the importance of both women and nature in today’s atmosphere. I am thrilled that this shoot is happening and I think that having a smaller selection of subjects allows somewhat of a stronger voice in the lyric of the piece."
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images.
"Let’s celebrate our uniqueness, our journeys, our strengths," says another woman's statement. "Let our 'weaknesses,' our 'flaws,' become what motivates us and encourages us."
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images.
"The mirrors communicate that we are a reflection of ourselves, each other, and of, the world that surrounds us," Tunick's synopsis explains. "The woman becomes the future and the future becomes the woman."
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images.
""We're hoping for results that embrace Democratic people and independents to sign up and also Republicans to sign up that are not afraid," Tunick told Cleveland.com in May.
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images.
Tunick told Cleveland.com that volunteers were asked to submit photos to be considered for the project, because he wanted to be sure there was a wide variety of body types, ages, and skin colors represented.
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images.
"I have two daughters — 9 and 11 — and I want them to grow up in a progressive world with equal rights and equal pay and better treatment for women, and I feel like the 100 women lighting up the sky of Cleveland will send this ray of knowledge onto the cityscape," Tunick told Esquire.
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