Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the Bare Reality launch event.
I’ve been following the project on social media since it was at a fairly early stage and it has been fascinating to see it grow. Day by day as the raw material was put together from the women who took part to the massively successful Kickstarter funding.
It was a nice surprise to learn that following the shout out for funding, the book publishers Pinter & Martin decided to take it. The end result has been a larger print run than would have been possible. So it is available from all your favourite book shops.
The book is beautifully produced and is not your usual photography book. Your usual photography book is all about the photographer either showing off their technical skills or is self promotion. This book is about the people in the pictures.
Each photograph is taken photo booth style of the torso. Nothing flashy or distracting. The pictures make you want to read more about the lives of the people behind the bare torsos.
Given that all in the book remained anonymous (with the exception of the author) the stories have a greater honesty to them. The fear of being ridiculed by people who you don’t want to share this personal image of your body to and your inner most thoughts is protected by the anonymity.
It would be unfair to pick one person’s story over another to share with you. All I can say is to get a copy for yourself and decide which story touches you the most.
A huge thanks must go to all the participants who appear in the book. Without their courage in revealing themselves both physically and emotionally this project would not have been possible.