- Every year 1.5 million cases of skin cancer are detected in the world.
- It is one of the most dangerous tumors because the vast majority of patients are diagnosed until the disease is in an advanced stage.
- Spencer Tunick is a controversial photographer who is dedicated to gathering thousands of people without clothes in public places and taking portraits in different parts of the planet.
Tumors are on the rise all over the planet. Their growth has been exponential in recent decades and they already cause just over nine million deaths each year. In fact, there is one that is quite worrisome because it develops in one of the largest organs in the human body: the skin cancer.
The common thing is that each person paid attention to their own physical appearance. If that really happened it could identify the appearance of any dermatological defect and act immediately. The problem is that most individuals do not pay attention to these types of details.
Current landscape of skin cancer
As a result of the above, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that only during 2020 more than 1.5 million cases of skin cancer were diagnosed. During the same period, more than 120,000 people around the world lost their lives to this highly preventable disease.
One of the main factors contributing to these cancers is excess ultraviolet radiation resulting from the thinning of the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, as a consequence of the release of certain man-made chemicals.
With this in mind, the photographer Spencer Tunic, known for making mass portraits of people without clothes, had an idea. The objective was to do another act but now with a clear objective to generate awareness among the world population.
In this way, he joined the civil organization Skin Check Champions in an event called Strip Off For Skin Cancer. While the place chosen for such an event was the Australian Bondi beach in Sydney.
A call was published through Meta so that anyone could attend. The appointment was on November 26 and the attendance of just over 2,500 people, the only requirement being that they be of legal age.
Today, Saturday the 26th of November, 2022 at the pinnacle of #NationalSkinCancerActionWeek
@SkinCheckChampions and @SpencerTunick invited 2500 people to #StripOffForSkinCancer. Participants paid homage to the lives lost from Skin Cancer in Australia. https://t.co/Dwvy0ASK1K pic.twitter.com/xYd9OjwkUp— Spencer Tunick (@SpencerTunick) November 26, 2022
With the sea in the background, the photo session was carried out in which everyone appears in a massive portrait without clothes. While the meeting also worked to pay tribute to all those who have relatives who have died from this type of neoplasia.
An alternative form of art or simple exhibitionism?
In this way, Tunick broke the record for achieving the world’s largest mass photography against skin cancer. In the past, he had managed to gather more people in other cities, but the difference is that there was no health objective behind it. On the other hand, now there was an initiative to promote periodic dermatological reviews.
In that vein, Spencer’s work has been surrounded by controversy. While some consider his work art, others describe it as unnecessary exhibitionism. One of his best known photographs It was taken on May 6, 2007 in the Zócalo of Mexico City. That day he managed to gather more than 20 thousand people to take a massive portrait of people without clothes.
Also read:
Graphic of the day: Celebrities who have been diagnosed with skin cancer
SunSmart Global UV, new WHO app to prevent skin cancer
Melanoma, the skin cancer with the highest increase among young people