German Photographer Shoots Real People Doing Their Daily Tasks Naked, And Here’s A Message Behind It (NSFW)

Published 7 years ago

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When Sophia Vogel enters into her subjects’ homes to include them in her photo series With and Without, she asks them what hobbies they’re into. After they say “listening to music” or “playing with my cat”, Sophia asks them to perform the task regularly and then repeat it without any clothes. She snaps photos during both of those times and then presents them for a side-by-side comparison.

“I want to point out that being naked should feel just as natural as being clothed,” she told Creators. “If you think of it right, we are all naked underneath our clothes.”

True, nudity is less of a taboo than it was a couple of decades ago, but seeing a person in his bare flesh still seems voyeuristic. “The pressure of being a sexual being is omnipresent for every human being,” Vogel said. “We are observed and judged every day, and the fashion industry lavishes beauty ideals and criticism on us. We set high standards for ourselves. I want to speak up against these ridiculous standards.”

“By presenting all kinds of different body shapes and natural postures I would love to show that everybody is beautiful in their own way.” Her portraits don’t have any sexual connotation, even though nudity is highly sexualized in our modern society. “I love to present nudity in an aesthetic manner without any sexual context. Not every single nude photograph should be linked to sexuality.”

Her subjects are not models, but regular people who feel connected to Vogel’s project and reached out via Instagram, e-mail, or word-of-mouth. The artist already featured teachers, dentists, attorneys, and other volunteers. Most of them are Millennials: “Right now, I am unfortunately only able to get ahold of the younger generations, but I would love to photograph a wide age range.”

More info: Sophia Vogel | withandwithout.de | instagram (h/t: creators, boredpanda, dyt)