The London Nudist

Sat in the corner of a snug chain coffee shop in the south of London, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with nerves.  I am here to interview and shoot Serenity hart, a 23 year old model from Canada. Am I intimidated because she is a model? Maybe.  Am I worried she’ll find what I’m about to ask awkward? Perhaps.  Or possibly it’s because she’s a travelling nudist, and I have no idea what she will be wearing today!  

As my nerves settle, I’m relieved to see that Serenity has chosen to wear clothes today, declaring that “It’s too cold over here to go out nude, but trust me, I certainly would if it was blisteringly hot!”.  Serenity is strikingly beautiful, which is to be expected from someone who has been modelling for 6 years. But there is ease to serenity, which I haven’t come across before, she’s almost so laid back that you feel like you’ve known her forever. But that is not to say that she isn’t passionate, it is clear from her enthusiasm that she lives eats and breathes nudism and it is massively inspiring.  

Nudism is officially only illegal in the state of Arkansas and in the countries of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Despite this, it is still a widespread misconception that nudity is illegal. Serenity travels the world, working alongside artists to challenging peoples conceptions of nudity Vs the law. Her recent campaign The Topless Tour is a nation-wide photography and film project, following Serenity traveling coast to coast and bearing her breasts in highly trafficked areas of 18 cities. This was a project enthused by the disapproving stares and hostile behaviour from men and women that serenity encountered whilst doing topless modelling shoots. Finding that women and men frowned upon nudity, as though it was damaging and in some cases, was an act of disgust. As an individual who had always been comfortable in the exposure of her body and a strong believer that the naked body is a reassurance of beauty, Serenity decided that the best way to confront this issue, was to bare all.  This was when The Topless Tour was born.  

The campaign, despite seeing confrontation from women in Toronto whereby Serenity was exposed to genuine anger and hostility, has been hugely supported by females.  The majority of women whole heartedly believing that the exposure of the body to be empowering, creating a voice for women that has been previously muffled, and leading a modern way to equality. Her campaign has seen women from all over the world go topless in support, hash tagging it #ThisHalfIsNotIndecent . This is an on-going movement and support by women shedding light on the stigma and shame attached to toplessness for women. With this movement, Serenity aims to encourage every woman to embrace their bodies and love herself.  

A supporter of the campaign and a reaper of the effects, Lily McCullough, 22 from Leeds, has found that her ideas and views on society and the world has been turned around by getting involved with the #ThisHalfIsNotIndecent movement. Once a timid and body conscious individual, after being encouraged to get involved by her friend, has since gained confidence and sought out a modelling contract finding that she felt empowered and beautiful from the feedback that she got back.  “ I never ever thought that something so simple would affect me so much, Serenity is doing an amazing job in changing peoples lives and their perceptions of nudity around the world, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!” Lily encourages women to get involved, but to be ready for the inevitable ‘slut’ remarks from some males.  

 Recently, in the World Economic Gender Survey (2014) it was found that Canada ranks 19th, America 20th and the UK  26th in the world on a scale of gender equality. As somewhat of a feminist and believer in equality for all, these facts surprised me. Serenity, on the other hand, was not surprised that such developed countries ranked so low, using the harsh feedback from some males to explain to me why.  

“Male feedback on the other hand, has been very harsh, even people I have known for a long time and who know what I do and what I’m doing have not been supportive. I think some men are under the impression nudity is a distraction and that seeing it so much desensitizes us to sex due to lack of desire, which I feel is somewhat ridiculous. The thing is, this is not about men or for men, it’s for women. Who cares if they lose their erection from seeing breasts all the time? This reaction just reflects that men view women as something for them, as a product for them to be used for sexually!”  

This outlook, and the disapproval of the naked body, is something that serenity feels is reflected in most of the countries she has travelled, from Australia, to Barbados and even London. Marcus hessenberg,  a freelance photographer  from London was taken a back when the idea of photographing a nudist in the middle of a London estate was suggest., despite working with half nude models before in studio settings. However, after I explained to him the reasoning behind the shoot, and what serenity stood for, he was more than happy. “ At first I was a bit like oh god, this could go terribly wrong. People don’t take kindly to nudism in general, let alone in the middle of a south London housing estate. I was excited because I knew something amazing was going to come from it, I was just nervous for serenity I suppose, there are a lot of cruel and narrow minded beings out there.”  

And this is the problem. Whether it is a matter of narrow mindness or something else, The nude body, in particular that of females is a matter of taboo that we have all become comfortably uncomfortable with. Humans began naked, both historically and biblically and therefore the issue around it is conflicting.  Many believe that humans originally began to wear clothes as a means to keep warm. Then, over many millennia, which clothes we adorned ourselves with, evolved to denote status and class. Slowly, clothes evolved to the point where a body without clothes is taboo. However, if you visit the ancient cathedrals in England, you will see many innocent statues of undressed humans and many great artists, such as Renoir, Donatello and Michelangelo depicted nude subjects which we happily accept a things of beauty.  Many of us have paintings and photographs in our homes whereby women and men are naked and we look at them weekly in magazines and on the TV. Yet, if you were walking down the street, and in the opposite direction there was a nudist walking towards you, what would you do? Before meeting serenity, I myself, would have averted my eyes, subconsciously avoiding any awkwardness between them and I and then later told my friends of this unlikely encounter.   I, like many of you, would be unknowingly avoiding a problem that can only be addressed with wide eyes and an open mind.  

I ask Serenity if she has any hang-ups at all, after all how many of us are entirely happy with ourselves? She pauses, and then says no, but I can sense a but coming. With her years of modelling and her recent nudity projects, there have been a lot of occasions whereby racism, and sexism has initiated Serenity to question what she is doing. Public, anonymous comments demanding that she ” goes back to where she came from” and e-mails from men demanding sexual favours and degrading photographs, held serenity back. Maybe we are in too deep, stuck in a tornado of racial and gender stereotyping with other like minded individuals stood alongside us to back it up, I suggest. The glimpse of the slightly fragile and disheartened model is almost automatically re-justified, and I a, bombarded with reasons why.  

“ This, like many other issues in society is all about their education and that they don’t understand it. It is scary the lack of education. It hurts to be exposed to others vile and bitter comments but at the same time is progress and needs to be spoken about for more education. If I were to stop now, what would be the point? I have come this far, and nobody else is going to do it!” 

Following her nudist lifestyle everywhere she can, unless it’s frightingly cold or illegal, she is full of empowering stories that are equally met with some harrowing ones. It is apparent that although being topless or nude is not illegal, it is something that many people are still struggling to accept. Whilst travelling the world, serenity has identified that there is a universal issue shared amongst men and women, and that the best way to approach it, Is to take off our clothes and embrace every nook and cranny.  This is not an issue that can be quickly and automatically solved, but its free and easy, so why not let something we all have in common unite us globally? 

Join the movement with your version of the #ThisHalfIsNotIndecent sign, spread the tag, end the stigma support women and love yourselves! 

Photographer- Marcus Hessenberg