Jock Sturges' controversial nude photos are returning to Moscow

After a year-long review by Russia’s Investigative Committee, an art exhibit of controversial nude photography by Jock Sturges is returning to Moscow. Russian officials say the artwork contains no child pornography. On December 8, the Lumiere Brothers Gallery will unveil 32 photos taken by Sturges in the 1970s showing nudist families in France, Ireland, and the U.S.

These same photographs were displayed at the same gallery in September 2016, before activists from a group called the “Officers of Russia” blockaded the exhibit, prompting an investigation by federal investigators. The official expert review concluded that Sturges’ work is purely artistic, warning that the “excessive social temperament” of some of the photographer’s critics “borders dangerously on ignorance.”

When Sturges’ work went on display in September 2016, several prominent Russian officials (including Senator Elena Mizulina and Children’s Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova) objected to the exhibit, accusing the American artist of pedophilia. Alexander Petrunko, a member of the far-right group SERB, was jailed for seven days for splashing urine on some of the photographs.