PHOTOS: Thousands of Colombians pose naked ‘in the name of peace’

And yesterday Spencer Tunick was at it again after 6,000 people in Colombia braved 7 degree chills to pose nude in Bogota’s main public square – all in the name of peace.

‘We are happy being naked, quiet and calm. This is a moment of peace and calm that we are all sharing. It’s also a moment of unity, a time to eradicate prejudice,’ Claudia Barrientos, a 40-something participant saidThe installation – his largest in six years and his first in Bogota – comes as the government in the conflict-torn country closes in on a peace deal with leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

 Carlos Beltran, in his 20s, called it a ‘great’ event.

‘It was a totally different experience in my life, and I think we are all experiencing the same thing – shedding our clothes and being as we were when we entered this world,’ Beltran said.

Tunick said his aim was to ‘just show the body as a beautiful organic entity that transforms the space, the governmental space of the square.’

He had some participants pose at various heights. Some of them almost seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

 

‘It’s an honour to be here at this moment when life is changing and hopefully a peace agreement will be signed,’ he said.

In Colombia, a diverse country with deep inequalities and roots in Europe, Africa and the Americas, Tunick said he was hoping his photo shoot would attract ‘an alphabet soup of skin tonalities, ethnicities, people from all walks of life.’

The Colombia conflict, which began in the aftermath of a peasant uprising in the 1960s, has killed 260,000 people and uprooted 6.6 million over more than half a century.