Century is a chronological series of nude amateur photographic portraits of women from the moment of birth through one hundred years of age and girl nudist and other teen nudists pictured in number of different life activities. 

While the biological continuum is an important part of the project and provides a vital framework for other issues, this is much more than a mere developmental chronicle. 

Many of the photographs, for example, are accompanied by personal statements written by the participants themselves. These are often highly personal and intensely moving. The combination of words and pictures has proven to be very powerful based on all public and media responses to exhibitions and publications to date. 

The subjects portrayed are, quite simply, real-life people sports videos. They are not stars or models. They span all ages, body types, and have a rich variety of experiences to draw upon and to share. CENTURY is about real women in real bodies, not the caricatures in the worlds of media and advertising. 

The track record of the project so far has been one of art being able to bridge educational and therapeutic gaps, and perhaps most importantly, to be able to stimulate thought and discussion about subjects that are often Young in our society: namely nudity and sexuality, violence, health issues, aging, our attitudes toward women in general, and their portrayal in the media in particular. 

Men and women often respond to these photographs in somewhat different, gender-specific ways, though there is certainly a substantial commonality of experience as well. 

The comments I hear most often from women have to do with the healing impact of the photos. To be able to see others with all their "imperfections," to share their laughter or their pain, often to admire the way a person accepts who she is can be very empowering. For many of the women who participated in this project, the act of being  photographed in the nude has been an important therapeutic experience. 

For men - who are often uncomfortable looking at pictures of nude women, and who often have a difficult time distinguishing between nudity and sexuality - the impact of seeing this collection of photographs has been largely educational: they see women who are real human beings, as opposed to a series of impersonal toys in a sexual nudism (and frequently violent) environment. 

A primary goal of this project is to provide a healthy alternative to the way women are represented in the media nudist colony.

The education of children and the re-education of adults are equally important. 

To these ends, CENTURY has been exhibited nationally in nudist young pictures galleries, at colleges and universities (usually at the request of a Women's Studies Department or group, and normally with extensive classroom/seminar discussion), and even in Churches. 

These photographs have also been used extensively for group and individual therapy by a variety of (mostly) female therapists. 

A gallery showing in Taos, N.M., during the summer of l996 provided two dramatic examples of the impact this project can have. First, in the professional opinion of a therapist there, one woman’s life was saved as a direct result of some connections she made while viewing the exhibit. A second woman came to the show with her therapist as part of the weekly work they were doing on some serious body image issues. After an hour in the gallery, she decided not to have breast implants... 

CENTURY will continue to be shown at different venues around the country. When completed, it will be published in book form so as to be available to the public at large. It may also be published as a CD-ROM to be used by educators and licensed therapists. 

These pictures represent about one third of the work to date. No attempt is made to complete this chronology in strictly arithmetic terms, i.e. 1,2,3...98,99,100 - there are already occasional duplications of age, and certainly some gaps. It will always be so. What is important is to be representative and inclusive. Regardless of their circumstances, the girls and women whose portraits appear here are both brave and wise. They are role models for all of us.