Getting Nude with Laura Pannack's "Young British Naturists"
May 24, 2012
In Laura Pannack's photography series "Young British Naturists," she explores the daily lives of a group of nudists living in different parts of England. Contrary to what you might expect, the nudists she met were not your usual exhibitionists.
"It was interesting to discover that in fact naturists are not exhibitionists and gaining their trust was extremely difficult." said Pannack. One method to helping them ease into it was by working in the buff herself: "In order to understand why my subjects were naturists and gain their trust I decided to also be naked–this in fact allowed my subjects to feel like I was the vulnerable one. They were extremely comfortable and we were able to connect without feeling any insecurity or fear of judgement.
Pannack began the project after working on a series on youth and adolescence, and thought photographing only young naturists could be a mode of defying the stereotypes we generally associate with people who prefer to go about their daily activities completely naked.
For starters, one mistake we often make is associating nudity with self confidence or a certain level of maturity. Many of the people Pannack met used nudism (or naturism) as an escape from their everyday lives. Another misconception many have is that nudism is "super sexy," but as you can see in Pannack's images there's nothing explicitly sexy about eating cereal or playing ping pong in the nude. In fact, the banality almost overshadows any senstationalism.
Still, Pannack didn't precisely set out dispel a stereotype. "I simply wanted to explore an idea," she said. "I thought it was interesting that these young people were all naturists for such different reasons. They were all very individual."
"Young British Naturists" runs at One And A Half Gallery in London through June 29, 2012.
For those of us not across the pond, a couple more selects:
