Mexicans Stand for Art, Nudity

A mob of some 20,000 Mexicans stormed the capital yesterday morning not to protest, but to show off their birthday suits. The stark-naked crowd pranced around Mexico City's historic plaza as part of a giant photo shoot orchestrated by New York–based photographer Spencer Tunick, a well-known buff of everything in the buff.

"Nudity is part of human life," said Liliana Velasco, an anthropologist and participant. One pose had each person lifting a large stone from the plaza floor; another featured the Mexican salute (like the American version, but nipple-high). On going bare in the open air, one frolicker mused, "After you take off your clothes, you see that everybody is the same." (More Mexico City stories.)