Sample Articles - Volume 19, Number 2 (Summer 2004) Coming out in Nova Scotia

Summer 2004 (GN 19:2)

Coming out in Nova Scotia

by Mary Dixon

In 2002, when my husband and partner, Eric Hayes, decided to do a photographic portrait project of fellow passengers on a clothes-free sailing cruise, I didn't think twice, except to consider that it sounded too much like a "busman's holiday" on our Caribbean vacation. After all, we photograph people and things for a living and for our art.

A year later, when gallery space had been booked to show the project, large digital prints were being stretched and mounted, and press kits and invitations were being prepared and mailed out, I had to come to terms with one fact: his show would effectively "out" us as naturists in small-town Nova Scotia. Hitherto, our naturism was known only to close friends, family, and photography colleagues.

In Their Own Skin was exhibited March 4–28, 2004 at ViewPoint Gallery in Halifax, a co-operative of which Eric and I are members. The show presented 14 prints of contented couples and individuals enjoying their place on the planet, clothes-free on a nude Windjammer cruise in the Grenadines.

Except for three portraits shot with a digital camera, they were taken on medium format black and white negative film, scanned into a computer with output as 20 x 25 in. giclée (archival inkjet) prints on canvas.

Press comments

After the show's four-week run and the appearance of two major newspaper articles (with a sizable reproduction in one of one of the images), it was reassuring to hear very little other than generally upbeat comments. The huge arts community in Nova Scotia had to have been reading the arts pages of the provincial press, although perhaps those who do are more open-minded in the first place.

In the days following Halifax's Chronicle Herald article (March 23), a higher than average number of people visited the gallery. On the very day after, the number of visitors to Eric's website jumped to 862 from an average of 54.

Comments were universally supportive. There seem to have been no letters to the editors reacting to the nude figure of sand-covered naturist travel agent Christie Musick, printed in both dailies. Of course, had the arts editors featured a full-frontal shot of both a male and female, as many of the images in the show were, the subscription cancellations might have rolled in.

It was Christie Musick's annual nude charter of the S/V Yankee Clipper of the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises fleet that inspired the photo project. Sailing with this cruise in 2000 and 2001, which Christie has been booking every October for over 20 years, Eric, a documentary portrait photographer at heart, was frustrated at the inability to take pictures as freely as he was accustomed. After all, not everyone on a nude cruise wants others to know how they spend their vacations, nor do they want to be disturbed when trying to relax.

But after two sailings with Christie, a rapport was established. Thanks to her, 17 couples and four individuals agreed to be photographed during the 2002 cruise, which traveled from Grenada through the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Other comments

Comments in the gallery guest book ranged from "delightful/happy" to "provocative, inviting" to "wow," and "Thank you for bringing this to Halifax." Some on e-mail thoughtfully examined whether naturists were "normal" or "on the fringe," concluding they "just happen to like being nude." Others appreciated that the show challenged cultural expectations and definitions of beauty, and that the masses, especially women, should be getting more of the naturist message.

On the negative side, one woman reportedly saw the invitations on the counter at a Halifax camera store, which featured the photo of a man with his arm draped around his wife, both holding cold beers. Her reaction was "That's disgusting!" She turned the pile of invitations face down-and presumably did not visit the gallery.

Eric neglected to document himself and me on the cruise, but made a point of emphasizing our involvement as naturists in his supporting brochure and artist's statement: "I'm a participant, not a voyeur." One artist visitor said this lent greater legitimacy to the work.

This made it perfectly clear to everyone visiting the gallery, reading the statement, or seeing the two newspaper articles, that Eric Hayes and Mary Dixon of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, go on nude holidays with other nude people! This was the final "coming out" for us, save for actually having my own self naked in the daily paper, which has yet to happen.

Our gradual "exposure" has occurred over six or seven years, beginning with showing some holiday snaps from various resorts to close friends and then to my older brothers. They just think I'm a little strange, which is allowed when you're the baby and the "artist" of the family.

I thought the last bastion would be our local photo club, including several seniors and fairly small-town and rural folk. For the club's travelogue night, Eric created an audio-visual presentation of images from a cruise, mostly tropical scenery but including a discreet selection of bare butts and one topfree woman. Apart from some nervous giggling, the only other repercussion was a happily curious question, "You mean you were naked on the cruise too?" Perhaps the respectful relationship forged with the group over some twelve years helped them accept this aspect of our life.

In our own skin

My own fear has been lessened by serving as an occasional nude model for a local figure-drawing group, normally about six artists at a time, although one workshop brought 21 folks in to observe and sketch me. That was somewhat daunting. I tease them that they should be nude drawing the nude.

Eric has begun posing for them as well. It helps to know that the artists truly appreciate someone doing this for their artistic growth (or the $50).

Although not actually in Eric's show, I previously graced the walls of ViewPoint Gallery in a posterized photo of me brushing my hair, naked in a bathroom. That one Eric made for a group show called Intimate Portraits. That was my official outing to all our co-op members, although posing nude for art is different from admitting that you like to spend vacations with other naked people.

Appearing on the cover of last summer's Nude & Natural magazine, as well as in an earlier issue and in Going Natural, brings less concern, because I am among friends there!

After the Herald article, I assumed that my very conservative ex-husband and in-laws in another part of the province, as well as colleagues in my former field of law, would finally get wind of just how much my life had changed. I have heard not a peep-perhaps because not everyone knew me by the name Dixon, nor would they know of Eric Hayes, whose last name was in the headline.

But it no longer matters. While my brothers joke, "There goes my political career!" I know that they and our friends still love, trust, and respect us for who we are and how we treat other people. They may not share a desire to explore naturism (though we will give them every opportunity); but they know that, like the diverse and amazing people in Eric's show, we are happy and at home in our own skin.