Self-Censored Portraits

The idea behind the Self-Censored Portrait project was to give the models direct, immediate control over how their nude image is presented to the world. They were free to cover as much or as little as they want, or even mask their identity completely. My original plan was for them to just use plain black bars, but it then became more interesting to have bars with assorted words on them, ranging from the classic CENSORED to the outright SMUTTY.

My goal was to get shots of at least 100 people by the end of 2009. Fortunately, I have many willing friends and was able to wrap things up almost on schedule.The final part of the project was to combine all the images into an interesting printed display. Specifically, I printed and mounted each of the 100 images separately in a tight grid pattern. Turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. The image below is a Photoshop mock-up of what it looks like. No, your eyes aren’t failing you, some of the images are in fact blurred at the request of the models. The final framed piece is about 28″ x 38″, which each individual image being 2″ x 3″.

The finished Self-Censored Portrait project was shown at the 2010 Seattle Erotic Arts Festival.