2020
The Facebook community legislation says: “We limit the display of nude images or sexual acts because some people in our community are particularly sensitive to this type of content” including “naked female nipples, except in the context of breastfeeding , childbirth and postpartum moments, health-related issues (eg following a mastectomy, breast cancer awareness or gender confirmation surgery) or protest.” Female nipples, which are prohibited and censored on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, are the protagonists of Nippledise, a photographic fanzine in which 40 nipples are humanized through handmade drawings. As a nude photographer I often found myself having to deal with the censorship policy imposed by Instagram, forcing me to obscure or delete my own photos, up until the point where my website was banned, a measure that was apparently necessary to “protect the Instagram community”. Needless to say, these limitations are an obstacle for me and for all the artists who consider the naked body as a creative subject.
Censorship in platforms that nowadays seem so necessary to make your work reach a wider audience, threatens the freedom of emotional, artistic expression and precludes the possibility of considering the naked body as an art form. These policies seem to contradict the platforms’ new social regulations, which highlight the importance of “creating a place where people can express themselves”. I wonder why there is no desire to accommodate female nude images, particularly of breasts portrayed with an artistic intent, since a differentiation seems possible with images related to health issues or to the role of a woman as mother. Just like for the images of motherhood, a woman who wants show her body freely for artistic, personal, narrative purposes, or to fight again the hypersexualization of the female body, deserves visibility and space, instead of being considered obscene or shameful like violent acts or hate crime.
Nippledise aims to be a small and ironic contribution to the campaigns for freedom of artistic expression and gender equality.
Book Details:
Self published
Printed in March 2020 in Bologna, Italy
Hand sewed/ hand cut pages/ hand drawn
40 numbered and signed copies
40 pages (200 gr)
3x3cm
38 images
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