Sechelt photographer Ricardo Scipio loves the beauty of women. In his latest creative endeavour, he captures the nude womanly form in The Goddess Project, a full colour, hard cover, limited edition book of collected photos.
The women are of all ages, all sizes and all colours, challenging the conventional notion that flawless cover models are the only women worth photographing.
"Your beauty does not belong to you," Scipio said. "It is a gift that should be shared."
The 77 women who are depicted are seen in their homes, at their dining room tables, even in their laundry rooms. They pose outdoors on the beaches in Oregon, in the forest and in the snow of a Calgary winter. Twelve of them are from the Sunshine Coast. They have large breasts or small, they have rolls of fat or skinny ribs, they are pixies and amazons, they have tattoos and piercings or are photographed with their pets. One woman poses beside her wheelchair. In another photo, a burn victim is revealed as transcending her disfigurement.
Scipio points a respectful camera. Because he was a stranger to his models, he worked to earn their trust in him and it shows in the photos. His request for nude models went out on Craig's List and those who replied were often young and slim. He was always delighted when a larger or older woman replied. He travelled to their homes and let the models suggest poses. They are sometimes flirtatious, often smiling, but sometimes wincing from cold or preoccupied with their thoughts. Clearly, the women felt comfortable and recommended the photographer to their friends. Their identities are not revealed. For this project, the photo shoots were usually completed in a day; no cropping or PhotoShop was used in the printing.
Scipio, who works as a naturopath, has had an interesting career both as a film maker and a photographer. The last film that he wrote and directed, Finder of Lost Children, is an account of a family of Caribbean heritage in search of estranged siblings, and it is still showing at festivals. In 2005, his photographs of nude black women accompanied a book of poetry by Canadian author George Elliott Clarke. It was likely his years of fashion photography during the 1980s that gave him solid experience. Fashion photography also disenchanted him by its standard portrayal of beauty, and he began his work with fine art nudes, exhibiting the results in various gallery shows.
Why women and not men? Women's bodies are much more interesting, Scipio says. The variety of shapes and sizes are not present in men where he usually finds only two body types, muscular or paunchy. He is continuing to seek out interesting women as subjects for a second book of photos.
The self-published book is available on his website for $160 in a signed, numbered, limited edition. Scipio can be reached by e-mail: nycfilmcanada@aol.com or at his book's blog: http://goddessbook.blogspot.com.
