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Agence France-Presse

Hundreds of models wearing only white body paint walked Sunday across a stark desert expanse in southern Israel near the Dead Sea, part of the latest photography project of American artist Spencer Tunick.
As for Tunick, dressed, in black, he stood on the roof of a recreational vehicle and issued commands on a megaphone.
“Everyone put your feet together,” he said. “Hands down.”

The 54-year-old photographer visited Israel as a guest of the tourism ministry to portray for the third time the shrinking Dead Sea via nude subjects.
“For me the body represents beauty and life and love,” said Tunick, who has staged dozens of large-scale nude shoots around the world.
Tunick depicted more than 1,000 nude models a decade ago on the shores of the salty Dead Sea, which is receding at about a metre a year.
Israel and Jordan have diverted much of the upstream water for agriculture and drinking water, while mineral extraction and evaporation accelerated by climate change have made the problem worse.
By the time Tunick returned five years later, the placid waters of his first shoot had receded, leaving behind crusty sand and gaping sinkholes.
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On Sunday, Tunick posed his subjects on stony brown hills overlooking the turquoise lake. About 200 people followed his directions, both men and women, standing straight and stooped, some thin and some rotund.
He said he chose to cover the models in white paint to evoke the Biblical story of Lot’s wife, who was said to have turned into a pillar of salt.
Doctoral student Anna Kleiman, 26, said she joined the shoot to bring awareness to the environmental crisis.
“It feels really natural, once you take your clothes off,” she said. “You kind of don’t want to put them back on. I think we just struggled with the rocks a little bit.”
Israel’s tourism ministry bankrolled Tunick’s flight and ground expenses, said Hassan Madah, the ministry’s director of marketing for the Americas.

The city of Arad contributed staff and other expenses, said mayor Nisan Ben Hamo.
Some conservative leaders in Israel opposed Tunick’s project, with one politician demanding the tourism ministry withdraw its sponsorship of the “event of mass abomination.”
Ben Hamo said he saw the project as an affirmation of Arad “as a liberal city.”
He hopes the shoot might bring more visitors and help raise funds for a new museum about the Dead Sea.
Engineer Gil Shavit, 63, spoke to reporters after the shoot.
“We’re lucky to have clouds today so it’s not too hot,” Shavit said.
He said he posed for Tunick’s 2011 Dead Sea project and was grateful to return.
“It’s fascinating to see,” he said, adding, “Spencer can’t do his work without us.”


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Israel

Hundreds of models pose nude for photo shoot to highlight climate change near Dead Sea in Israel

American art photographer Spencer Tunick and his crew work on a photo installation in the desert near the Israeli city of Arad on Sunday. Photo: Menahem Kahana / AFP

American art photographer Spencer Tunick speaks to the press during the shooting of a photo installation in the desert landscape surrounding the southeastern Israeli city of Arad, some 15 kilometre west of the Dead Sea, on October 17, 2021. - About 300 participants have registered to be part of the nude photo installation, designed to draw world attention to the importance of preserving and restoring the Dead Sea, a unique natural resource and one of Israel’s most famous tourist attractions. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION- NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Participants pose nude for American art photographer Spencer Tunick, working on a photo installation in the desert landscape surrounding the southeastern Israeli city of Arad, some 15 kilometre west of the Dead Sea, on October 17, 2021. - About 300 participants have registered to be part of the nude photo installation, designed to draw world attention to the importance of preserving and restoring the Dead Sea, a unique natural resource and one of Israel’s most famous tourist attractions. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION- NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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Israeli archaeologist Yaakov Billig is seen next to a 2,700-year-old private toilet cubicle discovered in Jerusalem. Photo: Israeli Antiquities Authority handout via AFP

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American photographer Spencer Tunick visited Israel as a guest of the tourism ministry to portray the shrinking Dead Sea via nude subjects
Tunick said he chose to cover the models in white paint to evoke the Biblical story of Lot’s wife, who was said to have turned into a pillar of salt



American photographer Spencer Tunick visited Israel as a guest of the tourism ministry to portray the shrinking Dead Sea via nude subjects.


Climate change

Environment

Photography