Nude Photography: Art or Pornography?

Pornography is one of those things that everyone feels they can identify when they see it. It’s lascivious. It’s explicit. And it often inspires little consideration of aesthetic in favour of using nude or scantily clad male and female forms for the purpose of sexual arousal.

Defining art is a little more difficult but a reasonable definition by the Oxford dictionary defines it as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

But what happens when you put a nude form in a work of art?

Does it immediately render the piece pornographic and the artist a pornographer? For many Namibians viewing work in which Namibian women are depicted nude, the answer is yes. Women who pose naked as well as the people who paint or photograph them are depraved and the resulting work is pornography. Simple?

Not really.

The thing about art is that elicits a subjective response. That means when different people look at a nude in art some may be sexually aroused while others may find the nude forms nonsexual and simply part of an over-arching theme or meaning.

Like many photographers who have used nudes in their art, Unam photography lecturer, Christian Goltz, has had the word “pornography” hurled at pieces he calls ‘Nudescapes’ which involve blending nude bodies and landscapes into one depiction of natural beauty.

As such, he seeks to highlight the differences between artistic nude photography and pornography.

“In artistic nude photography, the aim is to produce beauty, ie something aesthetically pleasing. The intention is to touch the viewer’s soul. Like with all art, the work is frequently produced for the love of it and not for commercial purposes,” says Goltz.

“In pornographic photography, the aim is to produce a depiction of sex, aesthetically pleasing or not. The intention is to sexually arouse the viewer. This work is usually produced for commercial purposes.”

Goltz also cites important technical differences like lighting and suggests that soft diffuse light would be used to enhance the feeling of natural beauty in artistic nude photography whereas a frontal flash leading to harsh lighting would produce the voyeuristic feel of a pornographic picture.

“Since there is no clear-cut definition of art, pornography could be declared art by someone. But aesthetically pleasing, beautiful art could never be declared pornography. To a clear and clean mind, the difference is very obvious and not difficult to see at all.”

Making a case for the legitimacy of nudity in art is visual artist, John Sampson, who experienced some backlash with regard to his ‘Potpourri’ exhibition in March. The exhibition depicted the nude female form in mixed media.

“Nudity in art will always be there. If Namibians could travel abroad, and into the rest of the continent, and see all the wonderful and beautiful sculptures that are everywhere, as proof of man’s talent and skill to depict the human body, as well as the bodies of animals, etc, they would begin to understand what, firstly, art is about, and why nudity has been accommodated in the discipline for as long as man has populated the planet,” says Sampson.

Though nudity has been depicted in art since time immemorial, the fact remains that Namibia is a small and largely conservative society whose general sense of morality is offended by images of young local women posing in the nude, no matter how well they are lit and despite any overarching significance.

In this regard John Sampson identifies a glaring double standard and expounds on the fact that views about “decency” are personal.

“Are we now going to insist that Himba females should wear bras simply because it offends our unsubstantiated notions of decency?” asks John Sampson.

“And speaking of decency, who sets the standard? A Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Himba, a San? Whose vested interests do we accommodate in setting standards? What is acceptable to one group, is clearly indecent to another. Decency is an individual matter, it is a personal issue, and everyone knows when that line has been crossed. But I cannot dictate my standards and values to anyone else.”

Acutely aware of the comparatively modest society he lives in, photographer Leitago Narib says while they are certainly photographers who shoot with pornographic intent, he is yet to encounter any in Namibia.

However, as far as photography is concerned, he cautions local models to accept certain facts before posing nude.”

“People have this notion that photos reside in the camera or on a hard drive somewhere. But this is not the case. It should be common sense that if you pose for a photo, especially for a project, it will be published somewhere. At the age of 18, aspiring models should know this,” says Narib.

“More importantly they should understand that we are not in the west and posing nude will have some serious repercussions for their lives. One day these girls are going to be mothers and officials and managers and someone will always be able to find their nude pictures online.”

Accepting of the idea that nude photography does not summarily equate pornography but dissuasive about young Namibians posing nude, Narib alights on the sobering fact that “nudes in photography is not a established genre in Namibia. There may be cases where women may require a photographer to take tasteful nude photos for personal purposes but there is no market for this type of photography.”

Narib adds “If women are above the legal age they can do as they please but most of them don’t understand that nude photography is probably not the best first step to an international modeling career. I would not advise young models to pose nude.”

A legitimate form of art but with real life repercussions for those starting out as models and vying to be taken seriously, nude photography continues to be a contentious issue in society. And all three artists strongly advise that models sign a model release form which outlines issues of publication and remuneration should they wish to enter the critic infested waters of nude photography.

Clearly a matter of personal taste, ideas of decency coupled with ability to look beyond the obvious and knee-jerk scurrilous reactions, Christian Goltz believes that when individuals cry pornography simply because an art piece makes use of nude human forms “the dirt is in the eyes of the viewer, not in the images.”

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