How would people perceive us differently if we didn't have fashion to signify our status, style, and wealth? That's the question photographer Erica Simone, 25, addresses in her series of self-portraits in which she appears nude in several public settings around New York City.Twenty such portraits form a key part of Simone's new exhibit, which opens April 14 at the Dash Gallery in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood. The exhibit is entitled "Nue York: Self-Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen." The photos show her shopping, reaching for a book from a library shelf, begging like a homeless person, running a hot dog stand, shoveling snow, and more, all in the nude, save for a few accessories like a hat, shoes, gloves, or jewelry.
On her Web site, the Parisian-born artist describes her work as a reaction to a populace more concerned about the sales at Barney's than the homeless people in the subway. "It makes me think: What would we do without clothes?" she writes. "How would we portray ourselves to other people?" How would we show our social status to obtain the treatment we want or deserve from others? Would we feel comfortable just being who we are and not having to show off what we have (materialistically speaking)?"
Examples from exhibit can be seen in a slide show at Simone's site, Nue York.
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