Warning: This post contains nudity and may not be appropriate for work environments.
It’s been five years since photographer Spencer Tunick captured 1,200 naked men and women swimming in Israel’s Dead Sea, their bodies looking no bigger than buoys bobbing in the salty water.
The photo shoot was originally meant to document the stunning beauty of the body of water, which stretches between Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. However, the Dead Sea has been evaporating at an alarming rate ― about 1.2 meters per year. Thus Tunick’s project came to serve as an accidental homage to the sea in its former state.
Tunick’s 2011 photos are slated to go on view this fall at a Tel Aviv gallery named 4 Florentin Space. While he is back in Israel, the artist is taking the opportunity to document just how much the Dead Sea has suffered over the past five years. He’s currently recruiting more individuals to strip down and enter the salty waters once again to mirror his previous shoot.
Tunick will return this September, along with 1,200 naked friends, to Mineral Beach, the site of his previous artworks. Dr. Clive Lipchin, director of the Center for Transboundary Water Management at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, will also accompany him.
Together, the artist and water management expert hope the photos will raise awareness worldwide about the precarious state of the sea, and encourage leaders to take action. Scientists have long warned that, if the Dead Sea continues to dry at the current rate, the lowest point on earth will dry up completely by 2050.
“The Dead Sea we once knew doesn’t exist anymore,” Lipchin told the Jerusalem Post. “The harm that has been done on all environmental levels has caused damages that are partly irreversible ... the window of opportunity is narrow and will soon be closed.”
This is Tunick’s first major project since July of this year, when he organized 100 bold women to pose nude at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, thus protesting the Republican party’s hateful rhetoric against women. (Yes, the nudity is a standard theme for Tunick.) The Israeli project, however, holds a special place in Tunick’s heart.
“Since 1991, I have traveled the world making immersive art with people of all races, religions, and nationalities,” he said in a press statement. “But Israel is a unique place that I hold close to my heart and is the only country in the Middle East where I can be allowed to have proper freedom of expression.”
If you love getting naked and saving the world, head to Tunick’s website to learn more about potentially participating in the shoot.
Tunick’s work will be on view at 4 Florentin Space in Tel Aviv from Sept. 14–28, 2016.
H/T artnet News
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