Naked SURAnade

‘Naked SURAnade’ is a nude musical video practice, commentating on vulnerability, exposure, and (ultimately) censorship. Daily for the month of January in 2017, a new video in the series ‘Naked SURAnade’ was posted on YouTube. The page gained followers and was specifically put on that platform to attract an audience of viewers who might not normally be exposed to this kind of art.

Along with the videos was this description:

"Singing is when I feel the most emotionally vulnerable. Nudity is one of the most physically vulnerable states we can be in. Combining these two states, and further depositing the videos on the world wide web explores ideas of ownership, censorship, exposure-ship. All the songs are chosen because they make me feel full, loved, comforted. I hope you feel the same."

In the first days of February, 2017, the ‘Naked SURAnade’ YouTube channel was taken down permanently, and marked as profanity. In a response to YouTube, the artist wrote the following letter (excerpt): “There was nothing innately sexual about this project- the body is not innately sexual. It was using a semi-nude body as a platform to express sensuality, not sexuality. YouTube is a huge platform for video sharing, reaching a wide and diverse audience. This project was purposefully put on YouTube to expose a larger and more variant group of people to ART. Eliminating the channel from YouTube is denying a large group of people access to a new understanding of art which could be deeply impactful.”

That month (Feb 2017), all the videos were moved to Vimeo who at the time didn't seem to be afraid of the nude body. However, in February of 2020, Vimeo proved this statement wrong and deleted this account as well with no recourse for action. One strike, you're out was the new Vimeo policy.

In January 2021, ‘Naked SURAnade' has been reposted to Vimeo in hopes of bringing back the love and mitigating the hurt caused again and again by censorship, FOSTA/SESTA, and widespread conservative panic.

We are at a crux in our culture. Naked SURAnade aims to fight the patriarchy one body at a time. Our bodies are all we have, our bodies are political. How will you use your body to change the world?