Artist uses nude images to raise consciousness about race
Woman Poses Nude in the Middle of Wall Street Visual artist Nona Faustine, a Brooklyn native, has published a series of provocative photos to underscore New York’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The photo series, titled “White Shoes,” features Faustine posing nude on Wall Street, at City Hall, in a Brooklyn cemetery, and at various other New York landmarks where African slaves arrived, lived, and died in America. A graduate of NYU’s School of Visual Arts, Faustine cites enslaved African “model” Saartjie Baartman and black American photographer Carrie Mae Weems as major influences and inspirations for her “White Shoes” project. “Through self-portraiture,” Faustine explains, “I explore issues about the black body within photography and history.“ read more from Complex see photos in the “white shoes series”