UNCENSORED | Photographer Appreciates Generational Nudity

Search for likes and followers, gender stereotypes and the imposition of unattainable standards of beauty trap us in a constant performative effort to make our identity spectacular.

At a time when the virtual world replaces life in an all-encompassing way, it is essential to bring attention back to authenticity, but also to presence, physicality, active participation, empathy, a sense of community and connection with the other in real life. Without filters.

The body is a fundamental and legitimate vehicle for communicating one’s identity, but today it has become one of the main tools for acquiring social value, to the point of becoming a collective obsession. It is therefore necessary to get rid of cultural conditioning and prejudices about beauty in order to live more consciously, embrace the uniqueness of each individual and welcome the multiplicity of the human panorama. But above all claiming the right to reveal oneself and to be perceived beyond the domain of appearances. Without labels.

Society frequently uses nudity as a weapon of control and power. On the other hand, nudity must be defended, when aware and free, and claimed as a form of self-determination and self-appropriation.

Photographs by Matteo Piacenti. Find on Instagram and at www.matteopiacenti.com

Curated / text by Leonardo Iuffrida

Supported by Igor Libreria and A.N.ITA.

The exhibition wants the visitor to think about these contemporary issues displaying the photos taken by Piacenti during an inclusive one-day performance which took place at Senape Vivaio Urbano, a LGBTQ+ store located in Bologna, Italy. More than 100 people of all genders and sexual orientations, from 18 to 91 years old, have been invited to be naked on a metaphorical bed in front of the camera and the other naked participants. Some of them are naturists, but for most of them it was the first time to be photographed without clothes or to be naked among other people. No guests, visitors, mobile phones or clothes were allowed during a performance that was a meeting of hearts and souls. The only thing to do was to feel their own bodies again and to connect with themselves and the others in real life while the photographer, who was naked too, tried to support them in this process of discovery. The space became a representation of social nudity since displaying the naked body openly is as intimate as a bed and as public as a store. The walls and the floor were completely white and abstract to reset, start a new path and reach the deep roots of being.

 

By being exposed and apparently more vulnerable, the walls between the others are thinner and so it is easier to reveal our authentic self and to know the others beyond appearance, social constructions, gender roles and prejudices. Sharing who we truly are, we give the opportunity to ourselves and the others to rebirth. Together.

Piacenti’s photos are currently displayed in the same room where the performance was made to make the visitor feel close to the experience. The exhibition space become a garden of Eden where bodies, senses and consciousnesses can wake up and blossom to generate a new inclusive free spirit community.

Matteo Piacenti (Italy, 2001): artist and representative of the new generation of photographers of the Istituto Luce Historical Archive. In 2015 the first personal exhibition in Nepi, Italy titled Primi Impatti (First Impacts) paved the way for a series of exhibitions culminating at: The Royal Photographic Society Bristol, Accademia di Belle Arti Bologna, We Gil Rome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Rome, Museo delle Culture Lugano, 29 Arts in Progress gallery Milan, Teatro India Rome, The Crypt Gallery London.