BY: LAUREN ALI
Nudity is something that has become heavily “taboo” in our society as many strive to bare it all, arguing that human bodies are beautiful in their purest forms of nakedness, while others continue to fight to stop nudity being blatantly displayed everywhere. Especially in our culture in which sending nudes and posting naked pictures on social media has become the norm; people censor their breasts or genitalia through the use of emojis. Making a naked picture less naked and somewhat more appropriate by placing suggestively shaped fruit like eggplant emojis over crotch areas and flowers over nipples. This form of censorship has caught the attention of London born photographer, Stephanie Wilson, who finds the whole process to be a total joke and disgrace against nude figures.
The fine art photographer confronts the use of the emojis by physically placing actual fried eggs on breasts, holding a cat over a vagina and even a sparkler over a naked bum. Stephanie questions the need for people to censor themselves with these ridiculous symbols and connotations. She expresses her concern with people viewing nudity as being shameful and asks “why are vulvas, tits and arse so utterly terrifying?” While casting models for the shoot, Stephanie was faced with some difficulty due to the unashamed nudity of the images, bringing up the same question of why is nakedness such a large issue. She also discusses drawing of a definite line between her images and pornography on Instagram as it can become so easily blurred. Stephanie poses the question of the difference between porn and art, and if perhaps both are the same thing. While this photo series is successful in its soft and purely beautiful aesthetic in itself, it speaks lengths to political and feminist expression. It has created an awareness and attention to a subject which would have continued to be tolerated and not challenged. Follow Stephanie on Instagram to see more of her works, https://www.instagram.com/stephwilsonshoots/ and on her website, http://www.steph-wilson.com/.
Image Sources: steph-wilson.com, dazeddigital.com
*ALL IMAGES BY STEPHANIE WILSON*
