Lauren Gard says:
I’m a reporter at the East Bay Express, based in Oakland (a sister paper
to the LA Weekly, down in your neck of the woods). I’ve just published a
cover story about an amazing photographer who has spent 25 years
photographing nude girls and women, and collecting accompanying essays
from them, in what he calls Bodies and Souls: The Century Project.
(www.thecenturyproject.com [Link not safe for work])I think boingboing readers would enjoy seeing one of Frank’s pics, like
the one of 94-year-old Mary or 41-year-old Keri. For people who’ve never
viewed a woman Mary’s age naked, or a physically handicapped woman like
Keri naked, these photos are undoubtedly quite wonderful, eye-opening
things!The Express ran these photos and others in the article, and even in the
liberal East Bay we’ve already gotten letters like this:SUBJECT: Disgust
LETTER [verbatim]: I was just looking at your recent issue of the East
Bay Express volume 29 number 9, and was disgusted and very upset with
the nude images inside and on the cover, i understand your intention to
share “art” but nude art is not acceptable within a paper it is
pornography and the students of Chabot [local community college]
shouldnt be exposed to this UN-Necessary “art”
Excerpt from Lauren Gard’s article
His photos, although profoundly moving to some viewers, come as a shock to many, particularly when viewed out of context. Nude depictions of children and seniors are by nature taboo in a culture rooted in Puritanism. And most, although not all, of his subjects bear physical or mental scars, or struggle with their body image. Some are obese, anorexic, or bulimic. Some have been raped or abused. Some are afflicted with disease, while others have inflicted pain upon themselves. Desiree, nineteen, poses against a white cinderblock wall, a massive T-shaped scar dominating her chest. A year earlier, her uncle slashed her with a knife after she refused to let him have sex with her any longer. Kerry, 41, sits in profile, laughing, her unattached prosthetic legs resting beside her on the couch. Durga, 66, was given a hysterectomy in a Harlem hospital at age 31 without her consent. “Once, when the exhibit was at a college, several students approached me and said, ‘We don’t see anyone like us represented here. You need to have cutters,'” Cordelle recalls. He photographed one of the women the very next day.