The nude has always been part of art history. In prehistoric times, fertility gods were represented by small statues of naked women, in ancient Greece and Rome, sculptures depicting gods, but also simple men, celebrated the perfection of form and proportion, such as the Riace Bronzes. Over the centuries, during the Renaissance, the nude, both male and female, became a favourite subject for artists and patrons. It was during this period, in fact, that masterpieces such as Donatello’s David or Botticelli’s Birth of Venus were created. In the Modern Age, the non-religious female nude was cleared through customs and Manet’s Olympia can be considered the manifesto of this change. Today, the nude is part of our everyday life.
But while in the world of art, cinema and television it is now understood that nudity does not mean vulgarity or pornography, in the world of social media it is still taboo. It almost seems like a paradox, but the reality is that the highly complicated algorithms on which Facebook, Instagram and other social networks are based are unable to distinguish between a pornographic image and an artistic nude and, following the “either all or none” rule, they obscure, delete or close the profiles of all those artists and photographers who have found their means of expression in nudity.
One such artist is Savannah Spirit, an American photographer and curator, whose work has always sought to combat society’s and social media’s perception of nudity, especially female nudity – female nipples are censored on Instagram, while male nipples are not.
One of her best-known works is undoubtedly “I Am My Own Muse“, a series of self-portraits in which – as can be deduced from the title – Savannah becomes her own muse and in total intimacy is free to show her body to the world. What makes these shots even more interesting is the use of light: Savannah plays with the shadows created by shutters or lace curtains that rest on her white skin and play with her forms. The end result seems almost like an optical illusion, amplified by the choice of black and white.
«This series applies modern ideas of feminism while exploring it in the context of social media where my work is often flagged for nudity and deemed “unsafe.” Social media sexualizes the body by forcing artists to self-censor, at the behest of the artist. This, in turn, changes the narrative of the work originally intended.»
On Don’t Delete Art, a website dedicated to all those art projects that have been censored by social media, Savannah Spirit told of how both Facebook and Instagram temporarily closed her account following the publication of some of her photographs.
Below you can find some shots of ‘I Am My Own Muse‘, but to make sure you don’t miss any of Savannah Spirit’s work, follow her on Instagram and visit her website.
