Madeline Edwards- Spencer Tunick

1.Which of the artist's many technical choices are of interest to you and why?

I am interested in Spencer Tunick's decision to photograph bodies as landscapes on a large scale rather than as a close up. Close-ups of bodies can easily be perceived as landscapes, certain anatomical curves and edges seem like mountain ranges up close. Even some natural rock formations are named after and perceived as individual bodies. Turnick turns that idea on its head using hundreds of meticulously organized people to create one unified human landscape in contrast to either the natural landscape or manmade landmarks. I honestly cannot imagine the patience needed to organize that many people into one cohesive piece. Its obvious that these photos are painstaking and labor intensive, showing Tunick's dedication to vision, precision, and artistry, which is refreshing in a world of ready-mades.

2. What do you believe are the artist's conceptual and/or thematic intentions?

Tunick's works are celebrations of both the individual and the masses. In a world where we hear so much disheartening news about human race's destruction of each other and the earth, its revitalizing to see photographs that celebrate humanity en masse. We see people as individuals and in groups on a daily basis, but I believe hardly anyone focuses on the marvel of humanity more than its blight on the earth. In creating flesh landscapes juxtaposed against iconic buildings and landscapes, Tunick invites the viewer to marvel at humanity as one would marvel at the Eiffel Tower or the Grand Canyon. Tunick invites the viewer to celebrate the beauty of radically different individuals in color, shape, and size, coming together to create one coherent body.

3. How do you personally respond to these choices and intents?

I'm slightly surprised at my own positive reaction to Tunick's photographs. When I think of piles of bodies, I think of the scarring photographs of Holocaust death camps. When I think of masses of people I think of mob mentality, riots, and a stadium full of people encouraging the man on the jumbotron to drink mustard out of a shoe at a UGA football game. I think of crying children, sweaty, smelly and obese crowds and overall confusion at being adrift in a sea of people. Somehow, Tunick creates photographs of bodies and crowds that are neither morbid or disheartening . This positivity arises out of the lighting of the flesh landscapes and the precise organization of individuals. The precise organization of people creates a sense of harmony and meaning. Everyone is meant to be where they. Every individual is working with each other to create the whole. This harmony and meaning is in stark contrast to other depictions of crowded bodies where each individual does not work with the next creating a sense of disharmony and careless arbitrary placement.