Baring Witness
As the Iraq war inched closer to reality in late 2002, a group of women in California who felt like their voices weren’t being heard by their government decided to engage in an unusual protest action. They took off their clothes, layed on the beach, and had their photograph taken while spelling the word “PEACE” with their naked bodies. This action started a movement of similar actions titled “Baring Witness” as a protest against the war.
Baring Witness, Urbana, IL
photograph by benjamin grosser
On January 26, 2003, a group of women in Urbana, IL chose to participate in this movement. Led by Margaret Kosal, this group of women ranged from ages 20 to 62 and included scientists, journalists, a teacher, mothers, and others. While previous Baring Witness actions had taken place in typically warmer locales, this was the first such action to take place on the snow in the dead of winter (a few others followed that year). The wind chill that day was -6 degrees F.
I put a lot of effort into preparing for this photograph. The women wouldn’t be able to lie naked in the snow for very long, and I knew I’d only get one chance. I worked out where they should lay and from what location I would photograph (I was on a ladder hanging outside of a 2nd-story window). Friends helped me stage the photograph before hand. When the women arrived, they first tried it in their clothing, and then when we were all set, they posed for the final image you see above.
Afterwards, the action was covered by the local media, including the News-Gazette and Public I. The photograph is also exhibited on the Baring Witness website, along with images of other similar actions across the world. In 2010, while attending a talk by ecosexual Annie Sprinkle on the campus of the University of Illinois, I was surprised to find this photo in the middle of her presentation. She had found it on the internet and chose it as an example of mixing sex and politics in the context of ecosexuality.