In today’s media culture, we’re bombarded with images of women in various states of undress — but all too often, the images we’re looking at are representative of only the tiniest slice of the population, not to mention digitally augmented, at that. Enter The Nu Project, a series of nude photographs of “un-models” — volunteers of all shapes and sizes — mostly taken in the subject’s homes. Minneapolis photographer Matt Blum began the project way back in 2005, but says the idea truly grew wings after his wife, Katy Kessler, got involved as editor and art director. And grow wings it did — Blum and Kessler plan to turn the project into a book, and the excitement has been such that their Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary money has been funded well in advance of the deadline.
As Kessler told us, “We love that there’s so much interest in [The Nu Project] — it seems to indicate that people are ready to see something different than has been presented before. People are ready to see women confident in their bodies, and see how they surround themselves, how they decorate where they live.” We couldn’t agree more. After the jump, check out ten of our favorite photographs (of many!) from The Nu Project, and then be sure to head on over to the official website to see more, or here to pre-order the book!
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project
Photo Credit: Matt Blum, The Nu Project