The project was first opened in the beginning of September 2016. It consists of photographs which depict naturist families from France, North California, and Ireland, with whom Sturges has been communicating. The author photographed them throughout the duration of his long artistic career. Having started in the 1970s, he has now shot 3 generations of models. The images uncovered their beauty, so the girls posed to the photographer voluntarily and without embarrassment.
«Nudity means nothing to anybody here…People are naked…because they are naturists and spend their summers in a resort dedicated to the absence of shame».
Last year the exhibition had to be closed within a fortnight from its opening, despite the objections from photography lovers who had not yet managed to get acquainted with the project. The reason for the closing was the appeal of Deputy Elena Mizulina, who saw signs of child pornography in the works and launched the mechanism of harassment. Mass support of Mizulina’s point of view, provided by politicians and public figures, and petitions to the procurator’s office and to the Investigation Committee led to attacks on the Lumiere Brothers Photography Center, threats directed against its employees and vandalism – all those matters forced the organizers to close the exhibition ahead of schedule. The investigation on the charges of the demonstration of child pornography lasted for almost a year, and was completedvery recently. Neither the 13 lawsuits filed by citizens, nor the viewpoints held by Mizulina and child ombudsman Kuznetsova’s, both of whom have never even seen the photographs, could convince the investigating committee of the illegality of the exhibition. Expert witnesses recognized the complete absence of signs of any elements of crime and acknowledged the high artistic levels of the exhibited works.
In addition to the works of the talented and internationally-recognized photographer Jock Sturges, it will now be possible to become acquainted with the history of the conflict through excerpts from newspapers, photo and video footage covering both opening and closing of the exhibition, and documents from the expert examination and investigation process.
Jock Sturges
Absence of Shame 2.0 / 18+
8 December 2017 – 8 January 2018
The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography
Bolotnaya embankment 3, bld. 1
119072 Moscow
www.lumiere.ru
Jock Sturges. Ad’ele; Montalivet, France, 1999
Jock Sturges. Anette and Auregann; Montalivet, France, 2012
Jock Sturges. Asta; Montalivet, France, 2012
