This project investigates the motivation behind humankind’s desire for freedom through control over nature. It studies the link between nakedness and shame, by exploring the relationship between the natural and the artificial. In many ways, our modern world has been developed around this issue. I therefore chose to shoot this story in Zurich to emphasise its immediacy.

In a primitive sense, nothing is more natural than being naked. Young children are not aware of shame. Yet as they grow, and become aware of their individuality, they also begin to develop a sense of shame. This process is reinforced by society because it is the practised norm. So, it can be inferred that shame is a result of human nature and a motivation for a society based on the artificial.

Contrary to our need for control over nature, nakedness can actually be considered as achieving the freedom we desire. Young children teach us that every day. To feel at one with our surroundings is to have a sense of innocence without hiding behind our clothes. It guarantees that others cannot make judgements about who we are according to how we dress, thereby releasing us from the bondage of society and identity. This poses the question of whether we become free by embracing nature rather than trying to control it.

In these pictures we see how nudity achieves this, by removing social identity. Freedom and innocence are attained through vulnerability, whilst it can be considered that the artificial is partly a manifestation of our shame. The inclusion of man-made artefacts within the shots emphasises the contrast between a natural state and the artificial world.

A telecommunications specialist riding the metal statue of a horse; an event manager on his motor bike; a social worker with a plastic sword; a Ph. D. student of Science of Management measuring his strength against nature whilst wearing running shoes; a trainee nurse and a diet chef walking along Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich, with suitcases containing their clothes; all highlight the irony of humankind’s pursuit of freedom through conflict with nature.

Furthermore, the tattoos of an underwear designer echoed by the ‘tattoos’ of industry around her; a theologian above the architecture of the city; and a biology student watering the graves of the dead, illustrate how our need to impose human order onto the chaos of nature goes beyond our everyday life. It is engrained in our urban environment, our past and evolution, as well as our collective psyche.