The Artful Jurist

Photographer Spencer Tunick has done it again – this time down under. Mr. Tunick, who’s best known for taking photos of groups of nude people in public places, just added to his portfolio by photographing more than 5,000 nude people in a massive group shot on the steps of the Sydney, Australia, Opera House.

Since he’s been doing this for years, and has received lots of coverage (including one TV news reporter’s much publicized first-hand account of her own participation in a shoot), Mr. Tunick’s particular brand of nude photography isn’t really a “new” thing. But, since we don’t see too many naked people walking around city streets, we all sort of sense that there are still public nudity laws on the books that prohibit that sort of thing. The question then is: Are Mr. Tunick and his mass of uninhibited models breaking the law?

Well, the city of New York thought so back when Rudy Giuliani was mayor. Mr. Tunick was arrested there five times in connection with public nude shoots. He countered with a lawsuit alleging that his First Amendment rights were being violated. The case eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which chose to let stand a lower court ruling in favor of the photographer. It seems the New York laws were a tad overly broad in their scope, and artistic freedom of expression doesn’t crumble under laws that aren’t narrowly tailored to meet a compelling necessity.