Nude nominees
.jpg&img_size=500 "Les Danaides #1")
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Title:Les Danaides #1 The Danaïdes are, in Greek mythology, the fifty daughters of King Danaus. They accompany their father to Argos, land of their ancestor the nymph Io, when he flees his nephews, the fifty sons of his brother Aegyptus. After offering a reconciliation, they marry their cousins, but their father learns that the latter want to kill them. He warns his daughters, who arm themselves and massacre them during the wedding night. The Danaïdes are condemned to the Underworld, where they must endlessly fill a bottomless barrel. To me, the Danaïdes represent those who say no. No to patriarchal, religious, and societal principles—not to mention the diktats of social media. Dictating how one should live, dress, think, not be too thin, too curvy, too dark, too pale, too old… in short, the list is endless. Among all these constraints, women are by far the ones on whom they are imposed the most. In this world, many things are conceived by and for men, and women must cope with them, find their place in this labyrinth of principles. The Danaïdes who posed for this series claim their right to be free, to have full control over their bodies. I therefore thank all the models who agreed to take part in this artistic project—and, for some of them, who overcame the fear of others’ gaze, of what people might say, of discriminatory prejudices.
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