Nude Hippie

As an 11 year old, my neighborhood friends and I found a pornographic newspaper featuring nude hippies printed circa 1970. I still clearly remember the grainy images of all types of bodies celebrating sex: some obese, some people of color, some male. In contrast to the "nude hippies" of today's Google search (my source material), they all looked happy and comfortable. Unlike the hippies that appear with the Google search terms “nude hippies,” they didn't look like they were desperate, or coerced. Today’s so-called hippies often look unnaturally posed and unhappy. My guess is that the Portland area pornographer, who shot all of these, is a man who finds young female “hippies” of a predictable body type and persuades them to model through the time worn allure of becoming naked hippie goddesses. Once far out of town the subjects start out doing yoga on the beach or climbing over logs in meadows. The pornographer apparently manipulates the models in order to expose as much flesh as possible: this creates awkward contortions and sometimes seemingly physically impossible distortions. As painting material, the unusually posed “hippies” are a fascinating study, clearly illuminated with bright sun and clear shadows..