On Sunday July 26, the photographer Spencer Tunick organized one of the large-scale nude happenings for which he has become known over the past several decades. Tunick’s latest eye-catching gathering took place in Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.
The one-day “collective art action” was called Gran Spectrum, and according to El Pais, it involved around 400–500 participants. Unlike most of Tunick’s previous actions, in which he photographed unadorned nude bodies, or those decorated with a more monochromatic palette, the Gran Spectrum volunteers’ nude bodies were painted in an array of 11 rainbow colors from the Pride flag: not just your Roy G. Biv but also white, pink, black, and brown.
The action took place in the very early morning in the large public square in front of the Catedral de Santa Ana, a 16th-century Roman Catholic church in central Las Palmas. There were no spectators; only the artist and his production team were on site. One might expect that the Bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, would object to a large nude performance referencing the Pride flag organized as part of the Culture & Business Pride 2026 festival unfolding directly in front of his residence. In fact, he told El Pais that he was unphased. “I have no problem with it. When we go to the beach we see naked bodies, don’t we?”
Tunick has choreographed over 100 nude photo shoots around the world, from New York (where he is based, and where he first started experimenting with photographing nude figures in public places) to Munich, Lyon, Barcelona, Cape Town, Sydney, Moscow, and even the Dead Sea. His largest project took place in Mexico City in 2007: that day, some 18,000 people laid bare in the Zócalo, the city’s central square.
