The 860 Melburnians who stripped off in the name of art for a nude photo shoot during the heart of Melbourne's winter will today see the works they took part in.
The naked men and women joined a series of photo shoots in July by internationally renowned photographer Spencer Tunick.
The final four selected images taken during the Return of the Nude photo shoots are being released today, and participants will receive limited edition prints at a gathering in Prahran, in Melbourne's inner south-east.
A virtual reality video and mobile app showing the staging of the photographs will also be released.
The photo shoots sparked controversy when supermarket giant Woolworths initially denied Tunick access to one of its Prahran carparks.
The company said it was concerned about the impact on its customers at a weekend, but a compromise was reached when organisers rescheduled the shoot for a Monday morning.
The photo shoot went ahead in streets around the busy retail strip, Chapel Street, with participants describing it as a "beautiful, respectful" experience.
Melbourne reminiscent of New York: Tunick
Tunick, who currently lives in New York's Lower Hudson Valley, will not be in Melbourne for the release.
But in the past, he has praised Melbourne and the photo shoot participants who braved the wintry conditions.
"Chapel Street reminds me of the East Village in New York, Sunset Strip in LA, and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, but all combined into one juggernaut," he said.
"I think people from Melbourne are a little braver because of their willingness to pose no matter the weather. I get a sense of resilience and risk taking."
Tunick said in a statement that he was bringing his art back to a "city full of fond memories".
Spencer Tunick has produced more than 120 nude group installations in more than 30 countries.
The photographer is well known for his elaborately posed installations of crowds of nude figures in public settings.
Art as an 'inclusive experience'
Tunick frequently gathers hundreds and sometimes thousands of participants, and has said his artistic vision is a celebration of the live human body as an art object in public space.
He says his work seeks to "remove the human body from celebrity perfection and the commodification of it through social media", with his photo shoots including a diverse cross-section of people from various age groups and ethnic backgrounds.
"My work has long brought out the common themes of community, individual identity, and the challenges of making the arts an inclusive experience rather than an exclusive experience.
"Working within the Chapel Street Precinct provides an amazing opportunity to let the citizens of Melbourne become the artist themselves."
"I believe these final images have captured an extraordinary moment in the timeline of Melbourne," the photographer said in a statement.
Tunick's photo shoots around the world
