Arad (Israel) (AFP)
Some 200 people posed naked on Sunday with their painted white bodies for the latest project by American photographer Spencer Tunick, in Israel near the Dead Sea, which is threatened with drying out.
This is the third project of its kind on the shores of the Dead Sea for the 54-year-old photographer, invited by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and the city of Arad (east), where the session took place.
Stationed on a truck, Mr. Tunick, known for his compositions of naked crowds, gave his instructions with a megaphone to people posing on the rocky hills overlooking the turquoise sea.
He explained that he covered his models with white paint to evoke the biblical episode of Lot's wife, traditionally transformed into a pillar of salt there.
Nissan Ben Hamo, the mayor of Arad, has expressed hope that this shoot will help raise funds for a new museum on the Dead Sea.
The latter has lost a third of its surface since 1960 and continues to decline by more than a meter per year.
At this rate, this natural wonder, located at the lowest point in the world (minus 420 meters) between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories, could have disappeared by 2050, according to experts.
The drying up began in the 1960s with the economic exploitation of the waters of the Jordan River, the main source of supply for the Dead Sea, the saltiest in the world.
© 2021 AFP