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Love Yourself - The Nu Project

Happy Valentine’s, everyone. Oh, THAT holiday. Love it or hate it, right? My office looks like Cupid threw up. Little glittery hearts, cheap candy and obnoxious pink everywhere. “Roses are red, yoga is great, who needs a Valentine, when I can bench my own weight!”, someone posts on the Spartan Chicked Facebook page.

Whether you are single or in a relationship, skipping the overbooked restaurants, cheap chocolate, overpriced flowers and cloyingly sweet cards is probably a wise choice… Just sayin’…

Alternative suggestion? I would like to designate every February 14th a Self-Love Day. So, please engage in some self-love today. And yes, I will leave that up to your interpretation.

On that note, I’d like to share an art project that I recently came across, that seems really fitting.

The Nu Project is a photo series of nudes from all over the world. All participants are volunteers, and everyone is welcome as long as they are over 21. No professional models. Minimum make-up. I have never seen so many beautiful bodies in one place. Tattoos, rolls, wrinkles, and all..

While the nature of the project is deeply personal, and this is definitely not for everyone, the women who do participate speak very positively about their experience. Some pictures make them smile, some pictures make them cringe. Parents write in, saying how proud they are of their daughters.

“I once photographed an older woman who had just gone through gastric bypass surgery and during the shoot she had tears in her eyes. She said something like ‘I just can’t believe anyone would want to photograph me.'”, says Matt Blum, the photographer behind The Nu Project.

After reading all about airbrushing, removing the muscle definition from models, shaving off inches, adding inches, this is refreshing, to say the least. While similar projects exist, I found most to be either sexualized boudoir glam or depersonalized clinical shots of body parts. Matt Blum manages to let model’s personality shine through.

So, please browse. Enjoy. Feast.

And in the spirit of nudity… one of my favorites:


Celebrate.

Signing off, SOLO

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