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Nudity and Nakedness Franko B’s body is presented in its unclothed state, its naked state. Nude, naked, both describe the unclothed state of the body. Mario Perniola describes the significance of clothes in respect of giving humans status “anthropological, social and religious identity, in a word – their being” and the unclothed state as the opposite “nudity is a negative state, a privation, loss, dispossession” and further develops this state of exclusion as “denuded, stripped and divested describe a person who is deprived of something he or she ought to have” (Feher, et al 1990, p.237). The unclothed state becomes one of representing degradation, shame and possibly the state of abjection and otherness.
Nude within the ‘fine art’ context is usually assimilated with that of the female unlike the description of naked. Rob Cover (2003) makes the same signification between clothes and the status of the body but places greater emphasis on the difference between naked and nude, citing Kenneth Clark’s analysis that it is within the context of “high art” that the difference between naked and nude can be identified, portraying the naked as nude and implying that ‘nude’ as a genre in its own right becomes another form or style of clothing, the remaining naked being the only true definition of unclothed. Cover also refers to the underlying influence of religion still pertinent in contemporary society today when assimilating nakedness with shame, quoting from the book of Genesis regarding the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, although both were naked, they were “not ashamed” it is only after they have eaten the forbidden fruit that “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Cover, 2003, p.55).
The naked state has the ability to be not only literally understood as unclothed but also has a secondary state, that of being emotionally naked which becomes more significantly charged implying a state of vulnerability. Not only can nakedness be related to that of ‘otherness’ but it can imply much more. This is corroborated in an interview between Franko B and Gray Watson, B refers to being “totally naked” Watson reiterates “not literally and physically, but really… It felt absolutely 100% there”. B replies “Definitely, I think it was” and goes on to say “But I think the most important thing is that you are honest in what you are doing. That’s why I am totally naked and, as you said, we aren’t talking about literally” (Franko-b, 2003). There are other concerns regarding Nudity and Nakedness and it is that of censorship, but as this does not have direct associations with the status of abjection it will not be investigated in this paper.
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Copyright © Franko B 2007
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