400 nudes

I only recently came across this artists work, Jilian Mayer, who has created a display of 400 'naked selfies' at the Montreal Biennial. What's interesting is that these women who take these images, do it as a private, intimate form of photography. They're empowered, in that moment their self confidence is overwhelming; it allows them to be the director, the model and the editor. Yet, the minute they release these images, it because an immediate vulnerability. This intimate exclusively private moment of a picture becomes open for the entire world to find online. Mayer found these images on sites like Tumblr, and she decided to manipulate each image so that her face became theirs; allowing herself to almost be in their shoes. Mayer said: "I felt like if I could become all of these girls in a way it's like universalising the nude selfie". The exhibit allows for an exploration of the potential shame a naked selfie can stimulate; leaked nude photos can often ruin relationships, cause psychological pain and ruin potential job prospects. However, is it even really morally right to be using someone's nude body all for the name of art?
Mayer's exhibition arrives 1st April 2015, at the Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal.