Naked Las Vegas

Like Greg Friedler's three previous studies-Naked New York, Naked Los Angeles, and Naked London-where each subject appears first clothed and then without clothes, these seventy-five people both confirm and contradict our assumptions about those who live and work in Sin City. Color photographs echo the gaudy surface of the Strip, but these people-including waitresses, teachers, sex workers, businessmen, transsexuals, taxi drivers, mothers, and homeless men-dare to step outside their protective everyday facades.Unlike traditional nude photography, these portraits are devoid of erotic or sexual overtones. Friedler's work is a kind of anthropological survey. If clothing is a voluntary choice, unclothed we see people in an involuntary state-we see their bodies as we see their faces, unmasked. These images are at once deeply intimate and refreshingly matter-of-fact.