The nude returns to the scene.
"Unveiling" seems to be the new watchword: in theatre, in art, in fashion. But has women's bodies really become - from objects - subjects? We discussed it with those who have placed this reflection at the center of their work
It was 1968. «I worked with transparent fabrics for quite a while. I believe I have done my best for women's liberation by allowing them to proudly and boldly assert their bodies. I created clothes perfectly in tune with the 21st century" said Yves Saint Laurent, a concept well illustrated by the nude looks exhibited until August 25th at the exhibition The diaphanous creations in Paris (at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, precisely). And the same "naked" intent seems to have guided Anthony Vaccarello, current creative director of Saint Laurent, in the autumn/winter 2024 collection.
Free the Nipple
And we come to Italy: Unveiling by Silvia Gallerano – with the protagonists standing on stage undressed to discuss and share reflections – was the show-phenomenon of the winter, while now breasts become the theme of an exhibition, Breasts (in Venice from 18 April to 24 November), and of a piece – Il sen(n)o – with Lucia Mascino, which debuts on 16 April at the Teatro Menotti in Milan. Meanwhile, many girls join the Free the Nipple movement for the "liberation of the nipple" from the constriction of the bra. Hurray, the body – from an object – finally becomes a subject… Or not?
“Nudity can be empowering, but only if you show yourself for what you are, with sincere indifference. Trivial example: a woman with sagging breasts who wears a bikini to hide the "defect" is then forced to constantly check that she is "okay"... If you get rid of the top piece, well, you're done worrying: I'm so, so what? When you no longer hide what you experience as a "problem", your mental space frees up" observes Gallerano. She is a true pioneer: already in 2012, well before Unveiling, she had been the multi-award-winning protagonist of La Merda. Sitting without clothes on a stool, she launched into a monologue-confession in the role of an "ugly" young woman who aspires to be on TV.
The male gaze
«We have introjected the judging male gaze» she continues. «We also carry oppression within us, when instead there is a great need to give space to the body in another sense, integrating it. I think that the body-mind separation is the cause of many of our problems: we must remember that we are animals and move away from the now ancient belief of the superiority of reason, of logos over physicality."
A moment of “Unveiling” by Silvia Gallerano.
«If you go to the seaside square with a practically non-existent swimsuit you feel free, but perhaps you are inside a system that has pushed you. Although it appears to be a conscious gesture, it is "polluted" by the media images that bombard our brains... I don't want to seem like a bigot, eh!» smiles Lucia Mascino, who questioned herself a lot before impersonating the psychotherapist in The English Sen(n)o Monica Dolan, tasked with providing the court with a report on a mother who granted a breast augmentation to her… eight-year-old daughter. «No, it didn't really happen, it's a provocative and grotesque invention, but unfortunately plausible: padded bras are sold from the age of seven, high-heeled shoes from the age of four. Childhood is sexualized for marketing purposes, and it's so sad! I saw a documentary where they asked a child what he would like to change about his body... "I like it like that". “But what if I really had to?”. “I would like wings”».
The breast, reassuring and sinful
Mascino, however, notes some positive signs. «At the Non Una di meno demonstrations (the feminist and transfeminist movement born in 2016, ed.) I see many males; there is more sensitivity about body shaming; Michela Murgia – with her writings and with her “public” death – left a strong legacy. We are at an important juncture, yes, something has been achieved, yet looking at certain looks on the red carpet I ask myself: "Poor us, are we still there?". If we were truly free, various models of provocation would exist and, on the contrary, they are all strangely similar. And the breast is often the protagonist, just think of Femen (the Ukrainian feminist protest movement founded in 2008, ed.). It is a highly ambivalent symbol: on the one hand it represents the maternal, "sanctification", on the other the sinful; on the one hand it reassures you, on the other it excites desire."
History and marketing
“The iconography of the breast in the history of art, starting from the sixteenth-century Madonnas of the Milk (which disappeared after the Council of Trent, in 1545) up to today, passing through Marcel Duchamp and Cindy Sherman, reflects the complexity of the social implications” he explains Carolina Pasti, creator and curator of the Venetian exhibition at Palazzo Franchetti. «It becomes the starting point for talking about political realities, historical traditions, identities. We analyze how it has been a commercial device in marketing and advertising (sexual attractiveness is a common tactic for selling) and we do not hold back in introducing the most painful aspect, the disease. Both the works of Laura Panno and the works of the photographer Hans Feurer inspired me: he represented free, bold women, capable of using the body as a strength, as empowerment.”
The role of TikTok and Instagram
“Untitled, Pentax Calendar” of Hans Feurer (Hans Feuer / CAMERA WORK, Berlin)
To conclude, we take stock with Lorella Zanardo, activist-writer-filmmaker, as well as president of the Nuovi Occhi per i Media association, which offers training courses for students and teachers on the use of digital mass media. In 2009 he marked a milestone in collective awareness with the documentary Il corpo delle donne (25 million views on the site), made with Cesare Cantù and Marco Malfi Chindemi and centered on the criticism of the commodification of female images in Rai and private TV channels .
Zanardo, does the body finally belong to women? «We are on the right path but, as Emmeline Pankhurst repeated (at the beginning of the 1900s she led the suffragettes to obtain the right to vote, ed.), “Don't give up. Never stop fighting." The ferocious objectifying cameras (they lingered for a long time on necklines and legs without framing the face, what makes us a person, an individual), have been gone for six-seven years. Another positive sign is the advent of platforms, with countless series in which women no longer have a subordinate role: they are lawyers, detectives, entrepreneurs. Third positive sign: the protests of numerous associations against certain advertisements have borne fruit."
The biggest problem? «It wasn't the naked body (there is nothing wrong with the naked body, there is no taboo on Norwegian and Swedish television): the problem was how it was framed, almost a peek through the keyhole. And, alas, these repeated images have had the consequence of accustoming us, if not actually pushing us to emulate them. There is a lot of awareness today, demonstrating that education is useful. If TV has "amended", on the other hand we have TikTok and Instagram, where we find both emancipated bodies and an enormity of objectified bodies.
As far as I'm concerned, I opened another front with the Volto Manifesto project.”
What is it about? «Of “reappropriation of the face”. The signs of age are our history, what would happen to a society where everyone was equal, smooth? Free the Face! Let's free ourselves from impositions! We Free the Nipples had already proclaimed it in the 70s...".