2018.02.27 The Scotsman
Fashion photographer Amelia Allen took off her clothes to document naturism in Britain. As an exhibition of her work opens in Edinburgh, she talks about how the project changed the way she felt about her body
How did you come up with the idea for this project?
My inspiration for the book Naked Britain came from an image taken by Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt from 1968 of a naturist couple in Kent. I first saw his exhibition in New York when I was 16 before studying his work in photography at A level. I often photographed my friends naked and loved that the images where people appeared most vulnerable and raw were the most beautiful and honest. This triggered an interest in a community where people were naked all the time and I researched naturism to see if this existed in the modern day and particularly in Britain where our attitudes to nudity seem slightly dated.
