The Blowfish Blog

Naked Activism

Nude activism is a venerable tradition, dating back at least to the 1000s, when Lady Godiva made her famous naked ride through Coventry to relieve the burdensome taxation laid on the citizens by her husband. (So the legend says, anyway.) Though, to be fair, that wasn’t so much activism as a kinky bet; her husband said he’d ease up on the taxes if she rode naked through the streets, thinking she’d never do it, but she proved him wrong, after first securing promises from the townspeople that they wouldn’t look. Only one person in town — the original “Peeping Tom” — disobeyed, and he went blind, which should tell you how hot the Lady was! But, still, she serves as a symbol for the power of naked body parts to create social change.

Renowned photographer Spencer Tunick is famous for his large-scale installations featuring hundreds of naked people arranged in the landscape. (We have one of his photos on the wall at home, actually, and if you know where to look, you can see my own hot wife among the many naked people laying in the desert.) He recently partnered with environmental organization Greenpeace for a living sculpture designed to highlight the danger of the melting glaciers: Hundreds of naked people gathered on the remnants of a glacier to demonstrate the vulnerability of the landforms to climate change. Check out the link above for photos. (My wife isn’t in that one. It’s a little on the cold side for her.)

Lots of World Naked Bike Rides are happening this summer, a series of huge events organized to protest the world’s dependence on oil. Sure, a lot of people riding bikes to protest oil consumption is nothing new, but making them all naked — now that’s newsworthy! Their website has photos, history, a list of participating cities, and a truly impressive FAQ. Even if you missed this year’s rides, there are plenty planned for next year, so get ready (and invest in a comfy bicycle seat).

Photographer Oliver Regueiro has a cool new project, Environmental Refugee, that highlights the plight of people displaced by environmental disasters (he says the Red Cross now estimates that more people are displaced by environmental problems than by wars). His photographs are beautiful and sad, depicting nude people in partially-submerged or arid landscapes, and a portion of the proceeds from any prints sold will be donated to organizations that help refugees. It’s a little short on specifics, like how much goes to charity, but vagueness aside, it’s a noble project, and the photos are gorgeous.

So go get naked and do some good!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 August 2007 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Caught in the Net. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.