Naked photo at Sydney Opera House highlights openness
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<H1>Naked photo at Sydney Opera House highlights openness </H1></DIV></TD></TR>
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<DIV><IMG border=0 hspace=0 alt="Naked people in front of Sydney Opera House, Australia (1 March 2010)" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47392000/jpg/_47392784_008869572-1.jpg" width=466 height=260>
<DIV class=cap>Organisers had not expected so many people to take part in the shoot</DIV></DIV><BR clear=all><!-- E IIMA --><!-- S IBYL -->
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<DIV class=mvb><SPAN class=byd> News, Sydney </SPAN></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><IMG border=0 hspace=0 alt="" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/999999.gif" width=466 height=1><BR></DIV><!-- E IBYL --><!-- S SF -->
<P class=first><B>More than 5,000 people have shed their clothing on the steps of the Sydney Opera House to pose for a photograph by the American artist Spencer Tunick.</B>
<P>The organisers had only expected about half that number to take part. </P>
<P>The installation had been commissioned by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which took place over the weekend. </P>
<P>For once the eye was diverted away from the magnificent white sails of the Sydney Opera House. </P><!-- E SF -->
<P>It was drawn instead to the tableau of naked flesh assembled on its steps. </P>
<P>"Gay men and women lay naked next to their straight neighbours and this delivered a very strong message to the world that Australians embrace a free and equal society," Tunick said. </P>
<P>More than 5,000 men and women shed their clothing - people of all ages, shapes and sizes, who were undeterred by the chilly pre-dawn weather on this, the first morning of the southern autumn. </P>
<P>Tunick, famed for his snapshots of mass nudity in public spaces, had been commissioned by the organisers of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which took place over the weekend. </P>
<P>The naked models included a pregnant woman, who went straight to hospital afterwards to give birth, and a television weatherman whose viewers got to see considerably more than his usual Monday morning forecast. </P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>