«I have to remind myself how this can become a safe space for somebody, honoring them for being brave». Talking bodies and wildlife with Caroline Mackintosh new book
An Ode to Nude by Caroline Mackintosh
Every moment of self-love is a landscape, every moment of body embrace is breathtaking scenery. Caroline Mackintosh depicts nudity as a shape of nature, so unbearably pure it makes room for escapes. Dedicated to her mother, An Ode to Nude is a collection of stories told with skin and bones, within nature and surroundings that share the same vulnerability with humans.
Starting our conversation about the project, Mackintosh appears as candid as one can be, sharing the story of her work. While photographing for six years, the book hasn’t always been a conscious goal. With every person who would say yes to taking a picture, the impact of stripping away clothes alongside insecurities became clear.
What started with friends and acquaintances became an open invitation to anyone who felt the need and desire to return to their body through photography. Mackintosh confesses her joy tingling with astonishment when people would contact her to ask if they could pose and explore this experience. An Ode to Nude collected their stories together with images, with each muse sharing their journey towards self-love.
Making people feel comfortable with their bodies: the Photography book a about nudity by Caroline Mackintosh
When she first started photographing as a teen during her family trips throughout Africa, Mackintosh had always felt drawn to nature.
«I thought I wanted to be a wildlife photographer». She realized there’s an intimate connection between the awe in landscapes and the openness of humans, something to share from within. While photographing one of her friends in a canola field, Mackintosh felt her imaginary took a well-distinguished path.
«I want to create a book that can help people feel more comfortable in their bodies, something that was a journey for myself as well», she reflects. The idea to dive deeper into the layers of humanity came as a natural consequence of the purpose she found in helping people achieve peace while celebrating their naked form. Raw and poetic, Mackintosh’s photography blends the subject with the surroundings, linking all the traces we carry from nature.
Caroline Mackintosh, Portraying row humanity in nature – in An Ode to Nude
Ageless and genderless, the collection presents families posing together as much as singular figures freely taking in nature. Jasper is hanging from a tree, Phoebe is with her son on a beach, and Sky and Kyle are immersed in a forest, all emulating the same sensation of synchronic belonging. Talking about how we distance ourselves from our bodies in our daily lives, the South African artist distinguishes this separation, tackling it softly.
«I feel like it’s quite a long time since human beings have felt disconnected from nature and their bodies. I feel like nudity is perceived either as something to feel shame about or provocative and sexual. What we lost is this connection where it can also be conventional and natural».
An Ode to Nude: The book collects six years of photographing friends and strangers by Caroline Mackintosh
Asking strangers if they want to pose nude is no easy task. Shooting throughout South Africa, Berlin, and Portugal, Mackintosh explored different landscapes, searching for little traces where bodies mimic nature.
How can being with yourself within the wildlife, seen in the purest form, become an act of healing? Growing up in South Africa in an open-minded family, she noticed the boundaries shame holds onto the freeing of the body.
«Often when I was on the beach, I would be told to put my top back on because I should respect my body» the photographer remembers. An Ode to Nude becomes a soft protest for reclaiming humans’ intertwinement with nature, where all that’s in existence holds charm and enthusiasm.
Caroline Mackintosh: I had to lose you to find myself. Stories from the book, An Ode to Nude
Mackintosh is the storyteller of her subjects’ tells, confessing to celebrating the opportunity to give people the voice to share their experiences. With her welcoming manner, she would open the conversation on what shifted for them while posing nude. And they felt softer.
«Dear pigment, I had to lose you to find myself», Mariann’s confession reads. She is one of the girls Mackintosh photographed, and whereas carrying Vertigo as a skin condition, she manifested confidence and mesmerizing views. Chloe is one of the subjects Mackintosh shares the story with when discussing the bravery of belonging, the instinctive yet untraceable link between nature and humans. Four years ago, they shot her photograph in the Cape Town dunes.
While Chloe is African, she was adopted and raised by her mother from New Zealand, ever longing for a conversation with her roots and origins. Mackintosh remembers the confidence and awareness of her body when shooting naked for the first time, suddenly feeling part of South Africa, belonging to her land.
From sportswear campaigns to editorial projects – Mackintosh’s visual language
Looking back to where the idea of the book started, Mackintosh reflects on another project she initiated in 2015 where she shot nudes in the water. In the Murmur gained recognition from many magazines, depicting female silhouettes merging with the flowing waves, her friends aligned with the river in surreal visuals.
The photography gained deeper layers and purposeful meaning; the artist recognizes; she stepped further in crafting a safe space for nude photography. Mackintosh started shooting ten years ago, studying it throughout school and developing a steady voice and recognizable allure, one where people belong in nature with their nature. Collaborating with Adidas, Levis, and Puma, crafting inviting editorials for Studio Roi, or Office Magazine, the South African photographer follows the interplay of human motion and landscapes. Photography isn’t her only tool, however.
Video making or songwriting shape her into a multidisciplinary artist addressing the body’s liberation. Colors become soft but sunny, contrasts linger just enough to lure you in, shadow and darkness disappear, clothes are secondary to the attitude. Each character is portrayed in a newly found comfort, the rediscovered shelter where being naked means protection.
«An Ode to Nude is attributed to my mom. She’s no longer with me but she has always been open, kind and free. I always have to remind myself how this can become a safe space for somebody, honoring them for being brave – What can I do to make it feel like a place without judgment?».
Tracing the path for a new form of therapeutic art
Posing and being visible and immortalized on camera are ways of finding acceptance in one’s body, releasing traumas. Mackintosh intends to follow the thread of nude photography, hoping it could evolve into a therapeutic method. «I see it as a form of explorative therapy, art therapy, something I would love to offer to people that feel called to go on that journey with me and to see how it feels for themselves».
Herself a free spirit constrained by clothes and norms of bashfulness, the South African artist enjoys posing naked, finding a way to bring you to the present and organic. She wants to instigate that sensation of softness and deep relaxation through the projects embracing a raw shape.
Caroline Mackintosh, An Ode to Nude, the book – coming home to our bodies
We live in an era where art has opened many conversations about race and gender that haven’t been explored before. With nudity being so intimately close to identity, what made the people want to photograph was deeply rooted. Mackintosh explains how race, religion, or sexuality rarely predicted how her subjects would embrace the opportunity to pose.
«I was touched at times when someone for whom, based on their cultural background, this would be highly taboo would be more open to it». The images unite friends, families, and couples; Mackintosh leaves them to express affection, love, and vulnerability in a photography that lacks intrusive direction.
It all looks familiar and cozy with connection as the protagonist, resurfacing nature’s versatility and the different textures and landscapes correlating to bodies. «It felt pure and explorative», Mackintosh share the experience of shooting for An Ode to Nude.
Caroline Mackintosh
Caroline Mackintosh is a South African artist born and raised in Cape Town. She is mostly known for her photography but also writes and performs music, as well as making visuals and films. Mackintosh’s love for photography started at a young age, using her dad’s camera she would capture her family expeditions into the African wildlife.
