It seems there's no shortage of Melburnians willing to get their kit off in the name of art, even when they have to do it outdoors and in the middle of winter.
Controversial US photographer Spencer Tunick, renowned for snapping humans in the buff, has returned to Melbourne for his latest series of "installations".
It's all part of the Provocare Festival, which celebrates the cultural diversity of inner Melbourne's Chapel Street precinct.
The Jewish-American artist was flooded with applications from 12,000 people, but had to cut numbers to about 1000 because of limited space.
He culled applicants by preferencing transgender or "non-binary" people and then chose remaining participants to achieve a "mosaic" of skin colours.
For those horrified by being sans clothes in near-freezing temperatures, Tunick's purpose is high-minded.
"Everyone here thinks we live in an open society ... that we see nudity on HBO and Netflix and the internet and we think we're all free, but we're all controlled by corporations and the government," he said.
"What my work is about is breaking out against the boundaries of anyone owning your body."
Tunick's Sunday photo shoot will involve bodies painted in the colours of a "gumball machine" against a graffiti backdrop while on Monday people will strip off atop a Woolworths car park.
Chris Mason, a doctor who works in the intensive care unit of a major Melbourne hospital, told AAP he would strip down in an effort to see people being "happy and normal for a change".
"This is more a celebration of life than I see most of the time," Dr Mason said.
His only concern was the bitter Melbourne winter, but Tunick said he'd work quickly.
"When people are naked and it's cold, I work as if I feel like there are police behind me trying to arrest me," the artist said.
Booking the Woolworths car park was a hard-fought battle after the grocery giant initially refused permission.
Tunick said he had been surprised and frustrated by the supermarket.
"It's a car park on a roof and the only one that would be able to see bodies is possibly a bird flying past," he said.
Despite global success over decades, Tunick said the public nature of his work made it vulnerable and chaotic.
"I might not make a great photograph," he said.
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