Censored

“Censored” is a fine art photo series reflecting on the effect of the stiffened social media rules regarding nudity on the international artist community working in the art nude genre.

In 2019, one of the world’s largest social media provider strengthened the rules on what is visually acceptable to share on its platforms. While the loose rules regarding hate speech and unreliable news stayed practically unchanged and narrated as safeguarding the freedom of speech, rules regarding nudity were strengthened. Showing nude body parts, even naked backs and buttocks, became unacceptable, indecent and inappropriate. These new rules were promoted as protecting the innocence of young users and preventing sex work. Due to these changes many professional art models and photographers, who work internationally and nowadays rely on social media platforms to find the right people to collaborate with, either lost their audiences or had no choice but to conform and censor their work. The platform once used to promote the rich variety of visual arts, connected photographers, painters and models on a large scale, started to eliminate the ability to show diversity in this genre.

The dark, atmospheric images show an art nude model working behind a frosted glass panel. Although the melancholic quality of the images and the use of an extra layer between the admirer and the subject make the photographs resemble to Casper Faassen’s work, the unnatural yet evocative poses lack nostalgia and concentrate on the challenges of meaningful creation in a confined space while being prevented to use one’s entire range of expressions.