Hundreds of people have stripped naked on a rooftop in inner Melbourne in the name of art.
Up to 400 people gasped and squealed as they lay in the buff, wrapped in sheer red cloth, on top of a Woolworths carpark at Prahran early on Monday to pose for US photographer Spencer Tunick.
Chloe Horler said she felt lucky to be part of the 'installation' as a way to help overcome body image issues.
"The human body is a beautiful thing. A lot of the time it is really sexualised and it doesn't have to be," she told reporters after the 15-minute shoot on Monday.
"It is a celebration of who we are. We are all different, but we are all just people."
Melbourne commerce-law student Roshane Wickramathilake hoped his relatives and girlfriend wouldn't see his nude antics, otherwise family dinner might be "a bit embarrassing".
"All the important people involved are away from the TV so I hope it stays that way," Mr Wickramathilake laughed with reporters.
His dad would have a giggle, his mum would be shocked and his sister would pretend she didn't know him, but it was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity, he said.
"There is a lot of body dysmorphia. A lot of people don't feel comfortable in their bodies and it's a good way to say 'you should feel comfortable in your own skin' and 'everyone is beautiful'."
A subsequent 500 people took part in two other Melbourne installations on Monday - at Greville Street and Bromley Ballroom in Prahran - for the New York-based Tunick, who also had a shoot on Sunday.
"I worked quickly in order to keep them from freezing and I think I got some beautiful artwork," he told Nine News on Monday after his subjects braved 10C.
"The light wasn't changing, there was a cloud cover that's perfect for me. I was very lucky to have that."
The installations are part of the Provocare Festival in Melbourne's Chapel Street precinct.
Festival director John Lotton said the aim of the event was to "provoke, arouse and challenge" and Tunick's work did exactly that, attracting 12,000 applications, with only 1000 people selected to take part.
Australian Associated Press
