P. (5.02.2021)
What is nudity to you, how do you perceive it, and what is your attitude toward it?
I think that without clothes, a person is the most themselves. Naked, we all look similar. Our bodies are imperfect, and through clothing we don’t mask anything about our personality. Maybe with tattoos we can express ourselves in such circumstances. But naked, a person remains as they are – in a way you don’t usually imagine them.
What is nudity to me? A great sense of freedom and ease. I think that the lack of restraint when being naked, feeling good in your own nakedness, is one of the indicators of whether we have good self-esteem, a healthy sense of self-worth, and no complexes about our appearance. I have a relaxed attitude toward nudity. I believe the naked body is beautiful. Captured in a non-erotic way, it looks completely natural and is not provocative in any way. In my opinion, eroticized or even vulgar nudity is shown far too often — in campaigns, TV ads, music videos, everywhere. Much more rarely do we see projects that show that the body is the most natural thing, beautiful in itself, with no need for embellishment or correction. You don’t need to have — I don’t know — huge breasts for it to be beautiful.
How has your attitude toward nudity changed over the years? What kind of environment did you grow up in?
In the last years of elementary school, people started paying attention to which girls were developing breasts. Luckily, in my home there were never any problems talking about sexuality, sex, puberty, or changes in the body, hormones, and so on. It was a very open topic. There was no taboo, and I talked about everything with my mom
Did you ever see your parents naked?
Yes. For example, my mom doesn’t feel embarrassed walking out of the bathroom naked. She just walks through and feels completely at ease.
So it wasn’t a shock for you?
No. There was a time when it bothered me, and I told her I didn’t like when she walked around the house naked. But she didn’t really care, and I think that thanks to that, it was easier for me to learn to like my own body too.
But that was probably during puberty?
Yes, exactly.
Because earlier you probably ran around freely when you were little?
Yes! Of course. I remember running around naked in the yard or on the beach as a child.
But as I said – my mom doesn’t feel embarrassed walking out of the bathroom without a towel. We talked about everything at home. And I remember a moment, I think in 6th grade, when my mom bought me my first bra, and a friend in the PE locker room pointed out that I was already wearing one and asked what I thought I was doing and why.
You mean she made fun of you?
Yes. And I felt bad because I suddenly became the center of attention. I was the first girl in the class to wear a bra. Of course, within a few weeks, all the girls started wearing bras too, and then we were showing them to each other, comparing how they looked, where we bought them, what size they were. You know – it was something new, something interesting. Later, I remember when we were in middle school, there was a time when I really stood out because I had larger breasts than the other girls, so the boys noticed, and it was so unpleasant. Everyone’s hormones were raging back then.
In high school, I had swimming classes, and I never changed freely around my classmates — I always hid behind a towel. Actually, we all did that.
I think that sense of shame started to fade over time. When I was already in college and went to PE classes or the sauna alone, I would shower naked and didn’t feel embarrassed by the presence of others. I think it just naturally passed with growing up and maturing.
At the end of college, I had this two-year period when I was obsessively focused on how my body looked and how much I weighed. I tortured myself with Dąbrowska’s fasting diets, which, if followed for too long without medical indications, can cause huge harm. I don’t think it was an eating disorder, but rather a temporary, unhealthy obsession with appearance. During that time, I convinced myself that I wasn’t thin enough, that my stomach was too big, and I couldn’t leave the bathroom without a towel. I didn’t accept my body; I wanted to look better and better. I could lose eight kilograms in two weeks.
And how did that change? Was there a turning point?
After breaking up with my long-term boyfriend, everything really returned to normal. There came a moment when I fully accepted that, depending on the season, my stress levels, or how I eat, my body changes. If I spend a month in quarantine at home and can’t exercise like usual, it’s natural that I gain weight. If I feel like eating pizza three times a week and I do, I don’t feel guilty about it because…
Who doesn’t like pizza?
Who doesn’t like pizza? Exactly.
I accepted that my body is constantly changing and doesn’t look perfect.
And it doesn’t have to.
And it doesn’t have to. If nothing stands in the way, I ride my bike to work every day, and whenever I can, I practice yoga and lose weight. I don’t fall into complexes. I enjoy observing how my body changes along with changes in my life rhythm. I accept that it changes.
What do you think influences the fact that most young people are so shy?
The Internet has a huge impact on teenagers. Nowadays, almost their entire lives take place there. I grew up alongside Instagram. Along with it came my first complexes, when I realized that I didn’t look as good in a swimsuit as my peers known from social media. But for me, the Internet is mainly a source of complexes, not shame.
It seems to me that shame primarily stems from upbringing. You bring it from home. What I told you—there were no taboo subjects in my house; I talked to my mom about all the changes happening in my maturing body, and she herself wasn't ashamed of her nudity in front of me. As a child, I spent a lot of time with my mom's younger sister; I always went to her place for the holidays. And I often saw her naked; she wasn't ashamed of me. I also saw my grandmother naked.
I don’t think I’ve read in your other interviews that any of the girls had such “free” parents. In my opinion, it’s thanks to the upbringing my parents provided that I was able to get rid of complexes so easily and enjoy posing naked.
So I can probably conclude that the kind of upbringing you had positively influences the approach to nudity later in life.
Yes! Although it’s not like I fully tolerate nudity in every situation.
Personally, I have a big problem with saunas. I like going to saunas; I enjoy it as an activity, but I don’t feel comfortable in a place with so many naked people. Let’s be honest – saunas usually have a lot of men older than me. There are always more men than women, and despite the pleasure I get from being in a sauna, I feel immense discomfort.
I feel even more uncomfortable in steam baths, where you completely remove your towel and sit naked next to other people. That embarrasses me. But these are completely personal feelings. I think what we lack here are saunas where everyone either completely undresses (or obligatorily stays in towels) and there’s a balance between the number of women and men. Or maybe women-only hours?
How often and in what circumstances do you allow yourself to be naked?
When I know I’m alone in the apartment, I take a shower with the door open, play loud music, and light incense. When my roommates are around, I sometimes sneak from the bathroom to my room naked if I forget a towel. But it’s not like I’m naked often. I usually spend Saturdays in some modest pajamas.
It’s completely normal for us to walk around the house in a T-shirt and underwear, and no one minds.
Do you think that if you lived alone, you’d take advantage of that comfort more often?
Yes, I think definitely.
And do you plan to raise your children in the same way in the future?
Yes, definitely. I would like my teenage children to have as few complexes as possible, to be able to observe and talk about the changes happening in their bodies – just as I could talk about it with my parents.
I know there comes a time when you have to explain to children that they can’t run around naked everywhere and show their bodies. It’s not about stigmatizing nudity; children should be allowed to be naked. It’s about teaching them to take care of their own safety. I am strongly against small children running around without swimsuits on beaches. That really bothers me. I believe it should be regulated by some law.
And why?
Why do people allow their children to be naked in public places when they themselves aren’t naked? That’s completely irresponsible! Seeing naked, completely unaware children on the beach makes me think of psychopaths who could derive pleasure from that sight.
I have nothing against children being naked in safe places — in the yard, behind the house, in a friend’s garden with other peers. But exposing undressed children to the view of strangers is extremely irresponsible. For me, that sight is also distasteful, it bothers me, and it should in no way be considered an acceptable norm.
And what do you think about nudist beaches?
I’ve never intentionally gone to one. I stumbled upon a few by accident and hurried away as quickly as possible. I didn’t feel comfortable, especially while dressed. That was years ago, and maybe things would be different now. I sunbathed topless once on vacation in Valencia. I thought, “Why not?” but in reality, I didn’t enjoy it, nor was it comfortable. In the end, I even got sunburned on my breasts. Totally didn’t work out; I didn’t like it at all. I think now I’d be more relaxed about it than I was back then in Spain. More than four years have passed since that vacation, and maybe I’d like sunbathing topless now.
Well, I think this is a good moment to ask about photography, because in a way there is an audience — both during the shoot and later indirectly as viewers of the photos. How did that come about, and how did it affect you?
You know… up until now, I’ve done most of my nude photos with one photographer – Mateusz Hajman – and only once with another photographer, Radek Pasterski. With Mateusz, it happened that we took our first photos together as soon as I turned 18. I had been following him before, knew that he mainly worked in Katowice; he was known for his nudes and was becoming increasingly popular. I liked that his sessions featured naked girls, but at the same time they weren’t depicted in a sexualized way. Their bodies look natural, in comfortable poses. In his photos, you can see how bodies really look, how diverse they are, and full of beautiful imperfections.
At that time, at the end of high school, I was working at a restaurant in Katowice, and we had a mutual friend who connected us at my request.
So the initiative came from you?
Yes, I was the one who reached out. Mateusz got back to me, and we arranged a shoot. Our first session took place in our mutual friend’s apartment. We agreed that until I finished high school, we wouldn’t publish any photos where school friends could recognize me.
How was it the first time you had to undress, more or less, in front of a stranger? Was it a problem for you, or was it easier than you expected?
It was easier than I expected. Of course, I was nervous and a little embarrassed. You know, I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out that the atmosphere was completely relaxed, there was room for jokes, and we could laugh. Mateusz guided me, gave little tips, which he still does to this day.
It’s also important that in our first photos, I didn’t fully undress. Before the shoot, we agreed that the photos would be as naked as I felt comfortable with — I didn’t have to remove my underwear. Very quickly, I realized that I wasn’t ashamed and that I felt good being naked in front of the camera; posing without clothes came naturally to me. I managed to keep the nude photos a secret from school until I finished, and later, for subsequent shoots, I agreed to be tagged on social media.
You know, I’ve been posing for Hajman for eight years now; nowadays, arranging a shoot is mostly an opportunity to talk, gossip, and continue our friendship.
And what was your original motivation? Did you want to challenge yourself, or have a keepsake for old age?
My main motivation was that I wanted to be in the kind of photos Mateusz took. Even before turning eighteen, I was looking forward to posing for his photos. I wanted it to happen and was very excited when Mateusz reached out and we arranged our first session. I simply wanted to be in his photos, captured naked without unnecessary eroticization, caught in everyday activities.
At one point, we did sessions about twice a year. Now it’s great that I can look back through his photos and see how I’ve changed over the years. I have photos from when I was 18, 20, 22, and my body looks different in each session — different hairstyles, more or less cellulite at times.
And did posing affect you in any way, your perception of your body and nudity?
Definitely. It taught me a great deal of acceptance and ease — that at every moment in my life my body changes, that it may and will look different. To age.
It's not entirely official that I have these photos. Of course, my friends have seen them online, and we talk about it casually. I send the photos from the shoots that I like best to my closest girlfriends. They've gotten used to it.
Some time ago, I showed my mom a few pictures from my Instagram and said, "Mom, I have (semi-)nude photos, I'm posting them on my public profile, anyone can see them, so I wanted you to know about it before someone else shows them to you." My mom looked at a couple of the pictures and said, "Okay, okay, you don't have to show me any more, but if Playboy were going to pay you for a shoot, then go for it." It's all good, I haven't met with any criticism from her.
My aunt once joked about one of the photos, saying I went a little too far, that it was exhibitionism, but that's because that particular photo was a bit vulgar. Besides, my mom's sister also posed naked when she was my age - she just didn't publish the photos online.
Because there was no Internet.
Exactly, so 1:0.
My friends react really well to my photos. Once, my colleagues and I went through a selection of images from one session. At my workplace, I think everyone knows that I have and take such photos. At the very beginning, people talked a little about it; for a while, I was the subject of gossip, but that’s just temporary fodder. I haven’t experienced any unpleasantness in relation to my nude photos.
It’s more common on Instagram to receive explicit messages, photos, fetish stories, or proposals. I believe no one has the right to inform me about such things. I don’t have to want to hear, read, or see it, because visual material can be sent just as easily as messages. These are behaviors that bother me, and I respond to them.
I post such photos on Instagram myself and I accept that anyone can see them, just as anyone can send me a private message, but that doesn’t mean giving someone the right to send me their own nude photos.
What bothers me on social media are the double standards of censorship. Almost every day, I come across profiles with very daring nudes or illegally published photos from the Internet and other accounts, which operate without restriction. Meanwhile, my own photos can be removed from Instagram, even with clear censorship or partial nudity.
I also miss thoughtful promotion of naturalness. The idea that you can go to work or the store without makeup. That you can skip washing your hair for two days. That you can wear stretched-out sweatpants and don’t have to constantly look like you just stepped out of a magazine.
Don’t you think that’s changing? It’s not clear yet whether it’s just a trend, but nowadays more and more women go braless in the summer, and it’s becoming increasingly acceptable.
Yes. And that’s great. I think it’s a bit like women growing out their armpit hair – it’s becoming more common and accepted. I don’t see it as just another fleeting trend, but rather a move away from rigid standards. The very idea of wearing a bra feels like putting on a corset. Personally, I really like going braless or wearing soft bras. I think it’s fantastic. Why should we push up our breasts in push-up bras? To make them look different from reality? Plus, in summer, it’s much more comfortable and cooler to go without a bra — only benefits! I think it’s great. I don’t see it as a temporary trend, but more as a shift among women toward comfort, freedom, and ease — being able to look and dress as you want without worrying about anything. In that sense, things are getting better.
Why did you decide to take part in this project?
First of all, your photos are beautiful. They’re really, really nice. I like them a lot, and I really like your role as the hidden photographer who simply observes participants in their everyday activities. I like them as nudes; you capture nudity in a subtle, delicate way, and it’s the kind of nude photography in which I feel comfortable.
And the idea itself - I think it’s great to talk about nudity. About why, for example, someone decides to share their nude photos online, because that’s still taboo. In the interviews of yours that I’ve read, the topic of upbringing and talking about puberty and sexuality with parents always comes up - upbringing plays a huge role, and self-acceptance in adulthood is directly connected to it. The more upbringing is filled with taboos and shame, the harder it is to accept yourself, your appearance, your imperfections.
I also think there should be more discussion about the reality we live in - Instagram, plastic surgery, retouched photos - which fosters insecurities and is dangerous for young people. I’m someone who opposes altering one’s appearance or beauty just for “vanity.” I want young girls not to have complexes, not to fall into obsessive concerns about perfect looks, and to be kinder to themselves. And that’s why I decided to participate in your project.