More Than 100 Naked Women Crashed the RNC for an Art Installation

Early Sunday morning a group of more than 100 nude women showed up to the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio as part of an art installation.

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Early Sunday morning a group of more than 100 nude women armed with large mirrors and an artist/photographer showed up to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Esquirereports. Spencer Tunick, the artist behind the photo-shoot, photographed the women for a project titled "Everything She Says Means Everything."

Tunick's website says the installation is meant to reflect "the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of 'Mother Nature' into and onto the convention center, cityscape and horizon of Cleveland."

This photoshoot has been in the works since May, according to Esquire, with women of many backgrounds, sizes, races, and nationalities signing up to be a part of the project. The location of the shoot, a piece of private land across the street from The Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the RNC this week, was kept secret until the last moment. Tunick was expecting a maximum of 200 women to show up, and over 100 made it out to the shoot.

The Republican party has given an excuse to hate. We have daughters and we want them to grow up in a society where they have equal rights for women. The sun is coming up. Now, when I say three, let's get naked!

The women modeling for the photoshoot stood in a series of lines, holding large, circular mirrors above their heads while Tunick took photos from above on a ladder.

Esquire reports that Tunick communicated with the models throughout the shoot, making lofty proclamations about the project. "This is for you and this is for our future," he said. "We will shine your light and power onto the RNC. We're going to shine the light of women into this arena."

Tunick also spoke about the sexism that often prevails within the Republican platform. According to Esquire, when the shoot officially started around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Tunick told the group of women:

Large-scale outdoor nude photography projects are Tunick's main schtick. The artist has photographed large groups of naked folks for a variety of projects all over the world.

 

Some of the women in the RNC photoshoot on Sunday spoke to Esquire about why they wanted to participate in "Everything She Says Means Everything." 42-year-old Q Cooke told Esquire, "​I want to bring about the change and if this, in some way, does that, then I've accomplished something."

Darlene English, age 42, told Esquire that she was worried about a violent response from protesters, adding, "I've got a 7-year-old daughter, a 4-year-old boy and a 9-year-old boy and I wanted them to know that there are times when it's important for them to stand up. I have the belief that [the GOP] is very anti-women, so I wanted to stand up and make a statement that it is unacceptable in 2016."

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