テーマは「縮小する死海」　ヌードモデル２００人を撮影

【アラドＡＦＰ＝時事】イスラエルの死海にほど近い砂漠で１７日、集団ヌード写真で知られる米国の写真家スペンサー・チュニック氏（５４）による撮影が行われた。全身を白く塗ったヌードモデル約２００人が撮影に臨んだ。（写真は全身を白く塗り撮影に臨むヌードモデル。死海の西方にあるアラドで行われた、写真家スペンサー・チュニック氏のプロジェクトで）
　縮小し続ける死海をヌード写真を通じて捉える試みで、今回の撮影が３回目となる。イスラエル観光局が委託した。
　「私にとって、体は美と生命、そして愛を表す」と語るチュニック氏は、これまで世界各地で大規模なヌード撮影プロジェクトに取り組んできた。
　最初に死海での撮影が行われたのは約１０年前。この時は１０００人以上のモデルを撮影した。
　死海は毎年、約１メートル縮小している。流れ込む川の上流では、農業用および飲用としてイスラエルとヨルダンが取水を行っており、またミネラル採取のための水のくみ上げや気候変動による蒸発の加速によっても問題は悪化している。
　最初の撮影から５年後、チュニック氏が再び死海を訪れると、以前は穏やかな湖面だった場所が乾燥した砂地に変わっており、陥没穴がいくつも開いていたという。
　今回の撮影でモデルの体を白く塗ったことについてチュニック氏は、旧約聖書で塩の柱に変えられてしまう「ロトの妻」を想起させる狙いがあったと話している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/20-12:39）

Hundreds of models wearing only white body paint walked Sunday across a stark desert expanse in southern Israel near the Dead Sea, part of the latest photography project of American artist Spencer Tunick.
As for Tunick, dressed, in black, he stood on the roof of a recreational vehicle and issued commands on a megaphone.
Everyone put your feet together, he said. Hands down.
The 54-year-old photographer visited Israel as a guest of the tourism ministry to portray for the third time the shrinking Dead Sea via nude subjects.
For me the body represents beauty and life and love, said Tunick, who has staged dozens of large-scale nude shoots around the world.
Tunick depicted more than 1,000 nude models a decade ago on the shores of the salty Dead Sea, which is receding at about a metre (yard) a year.
Israel and Jordan have diverted much of the upstream water for agriculture and drinking water, while mineral extraction and evaporation accelerated by climate change have made the problem worse.
By the time Tunick returned five years later, the placid waters of his first shoot had receded, leaving behind crusty sand and gaping sinkholes.
On Sunday, Tunick posed his subjects on stony brown hills overlooking the turquoise lake. About 200 people followed his directions, both men and women, standing straight and stooped, some thin and some rotund.
He said he chose to cover the models in white paint to evoke the Biblical story of Lot's wife, who was said to have turned into a pillar of salt.
Doctoral student Anna Kleiman, 26, said she joined the shoot to bring awareness to the environmental crisis.
It feels really natural, once you take your clothes off, she said. You kind of don't want to put them back on. I think we just struggled with the rocks a little bit.
- 'Lucky... it's not too hot' -
Israel's tourism ministry bankrolled Tunick's flight and ground expenses, said Hassan Madah, the ministry's director of marketing for the Americas.
The city of Arad contributed staff and other expenses, said mayor Nisan Ben Hamo.
Some conservative leaders in Israel opposed Tunick's project, with one lawmaker demanding the tourism ministry withdraw its sponsorship of the event of mass abomination
Ben Hamo said he saw the project as an affirmation of Arad as a liberal city.
He hopes the shoot might bring more visitors and help raise funds for a new museum about the Dead Sea.
Engineer Gil Shavit, 63, spoke to reporters after the shoot, photographers carefully filming from his shoulders up to avoid his painted private parts.
We're lucky to have clouds today so it's not too hot, Shavit said.
He said he posed for Tunick's 2011 Dead Sea project and was grateful to return.
It's fascinating to see, he said, adding, Spencer can't do his work without us.