Vietnamese Nude Model Asks Google To Take Down Photos of Her Posing With A Monk

In university, I majored in history of religion and visual culture, so how can I resist writing about a story where a meditating monk took pictures with a naked woman and now she’s asking Google to take her photos down? It’s just too juicy. It combines a host of controversial elements with a seasoning of technology on top.

NSFW Warning: all links have nude photos concerning this issue, so beware before clicking, especially if you are at work.

The photos are part of an exhibit that was released early last year along with a book titled Thoát, which can mean escape, liberate, or exit in Vietnamese. The exhibit, which was shown in the popular beach city of Vung Tau, was meant to be a commentary on feng shui and the relationship between image and story. In the 12 photos, Hue Phong, the feng shui expert and mastermind behind the project, dresses up in monk’s robes and Thai Nha Van, a model and actresses, poses nude behind him in various poses. The story starts out with Van walking up to a temple, meditating in the temple, and eventually learning from a monk there. But it all finishes with pictures of Thue Phong, dressed as a monk, meditating, with Van posing in the background nude.

Thue Phong’s whole idea was to shock the public and art industry to rethink lust, and oddly, to take a closer look at the teachings of Buddhism. Several Buddhist masters in the area have already denounced the exhibit as sacrilegious, and now Van is asking Google to help take down the photos off the internet. She’s also proposing to the photographer to give her licensing power over the photos, but I’d say it’s too late for that. They’re all across the Internet already.

If I know anything about the internet, Van’s attempt to take the photos down is just going to get her more attention, like this article. And the more attention she’s got, the more computers have got her photos. All in all, I think Hue Phong’s been successful in provoking the public into some kind of discourse, even if it wasn’t as he planned.

My favorite irony of this whole affair is that ancient Buddhist art always featured nudity, and no one protests that, it seems time has made Buddhist more conservative?