As the year comes to a close, Britain Uncovered reflects back on the moments and memories that made 2024 one of our finest and most prolific years to date! In addition to an in-depth recap of the interviews, photoshoots and events we were involved in, we’re also proud to present a selection of previously unseen images from many of this year’s collaborations. Without further ado, here - in chronological order - is the story of how our year unfolded.
– What better way to kick off the new year than with a brand new photoshoot! At the very start of the year we once again had the pleasure of shooting with Verity, a friend of the site who has been with us since Britain Uncovered's very first shoot in 2020, and - having taken part in so many of our photoshoots over the years - an individual who has been so integral to our site's success and longevity.
The brains behind The Body Confidence Issue, a project with very similar aims and objectives to our own, Verity has long been passionate about promoting 'lumps, bumps, rolls and the reality of social media' - so as the clock struck 12, we kicked off the new year in style with a celebratory photoshoot that revisited our previous bathtub shoot that had made a splash on our socials the year prior. Although The Body Confidence Issue came to an end before the year was out, it made a significant impact during its time online, and we’re excited to see what Verity has in store for us in the coming weeks and months.
– For our first full-length interview of the year, we had the pleasure of sitting down with contemporary and figurative artist, Stephanie Tripolitaki, who we first discovered at the Holy Art Fair exhibition in London back in October 2023. It was clear based on the style and tone of her art, along with our quick chat on the night, that Stephanie would be the perfect fit for Britain Uncovered, and it was a pleasure meeting up in a Twickenham coffee shop for an in-depth conversation that covered not only her art, but the ways the artist is helping to redefine people’s perspectives of themselves in relation to body confidence. We also touched on the boundaries Stephanie is seeking to push via her work, the perception of nudity still being a taboo within society, and many other intriguing topics. You can read both parts of this two-part feature by starting here.
– At the end of February, we headed up to Birmingham city centre for our first combined interview and photoshoot of the year – and joining us was Welsh body positivity artist, Katie Hughes (pictured above). A follow-up to our first interview in the summer of 2021, we caught up with Katie to discuss how her art has progressed, along with the success of her recent hometown exhibition. We also went in detail on why Katie has decided to step back from painting commissions, which ended up touching on some very important issues and problems within society that we’re sure many others, but particularly artists painting the female form, may well be able to relate to.
In addition to the interview, and in true Britain Uncovered tradition, Katie bravely posed alongside her art sans clothing - an experience that the artist wasn't necessarily used to. Reacting to the photoshoot, Katie told us, "It felt quite powerful to be semi-naked with my nude art. I’m one of the girls! It felt really good. I was really nervous to do it to begin with, because I’ve not really done anything like this before. But I think I like the idea with Britain Uncovered’s work is that it’s not just about the art, it’s the body positive part of it – I think that’s really cool. Sitting on the sofa with my paintings felt very natural and freeing." You can find our full feature with Katie by clicking here.
– Our next stop along the road was a visit to Alison Dollery’s Finding Place exhibition in Crawley, which served as the follow-up to her Manufactured Body show the year prior (which you can read all about in our archives here).
Featuring a selection of new works, it was fascinating to see how the artist’s project continues to evolve, and seeing such a vast selection of Alison’s body-centric work taking over the entire Front Room of the Ancient Priors made for incredibly thought-provoking viewing. The visual artist’s exhibitions have always been well worth the visit, and we’re curious to see what Alison has in store for us in 2025 (and beyond).
– At the beginning of April we were up in London for Sophie Tea’s sixth Send Nudes show – which was scheduled to be the last in a series of shows across the UK and Australia that first kicked off at the end of 2019. The very first show in this series, which took place in a relatively modest and intimate space in Shoreditch at the end of 2019, actually provided the impetus and sparked the idea for the Britain Uncovered website coming into existence, so being in attendance for the conclusion of this era definitely felt like a momentous and emotional occasion.
This year’s Send Nudes event was held at the prestigious London Palladium, and in addition to Sophie painting live on stage and interviewing a selection of past models, the night once again concluded with a celebratory naked catwalk featuring 50 painted ladies taking to the stage. The sheer size and scale of the event, in contrast to the very first offering in 2019, highlights just how much of an impact Sophie has made via her art and her community during her time painting nude art and promoting body positivity. A pictorial essay of our night at the Palladium can be located here.
– In May, our next order of business was hosting Britain Uncovered’s fifth annual beach photoshoot – which has quickly become a staple in our calendar and one of our most beloved body positivity events of the year! On this occasion, we were joined by Charlie and Viki Jackson, founders of the Playface comedy company, who were down in Brighton performing their show Kerfuffle during the city’s annual Fringe festival. Prior to their first performance, we caught up with the duo at Black Rock Beach – the first officially designated nudist beach on UK shores – and shortly after sunrise, Charlie and Viki bravely bared all and enjoyed an early morning dip exactly as nature intended!
During their 20-minute frolic down on the shoreline, we captured some fantastic images that, in our view, portray a true sense of freedom and showcase body confidence at its finest. When we first started hosting our beach shoots back in 2020, we were optimistic that the sight of people partaking in a social nudity activities may encourage others and make such an endeavour more accessible to those of you viewing - and it's been our goal to depict these moments candidly in a fun, natural and desexualised way to normalise nudity and to make it less of a big deal than society sometimes suggests it is. We hope these raw and joyous moments of Charlie and Viki's first ever experience of being naked on a beach prove that social nudity is truly accessible for all.
Following their dip, we retreated to the warmer (and drier!) confines of Brighton Marina where we enjoyed breakfast over an in-depth chat about Charlie and Viki's career and perspectives on body image issues. You can read the full story and see more images from our day by clicking here.
– Two days after our photoshoot, we were back in Brighton for Beach Box Sauna’s first ever clothing optional session – an experiment that proved so popular that it's actually sparked a whole new series of events at the venue that are now a regular part of Beach Box’s calendar (taking place every other week on Mondays).
The night of our visit in May, the event – which was also part of the Brighton Fringe Festival – was promoted as a ‘German Style Sauna’ featuring aufguss (which, for those unfamiliar, is a sauna ritual that involves a sauna master using a towel or fan to circulate hot air and steam over bathers).
Across the two-and-a-half-hour session on the eve of our visit, we had the opportunity to use three individual saunas, along with the plunge pool and fire pit areas, and attendees seemed to embrace the experience. The nudity element of the evening fortunately received very little attention or fanfare, and people went about their business as if it were a typical, everyday occurrence (which will hopefully come to fruition in the not too distant future). Attendees at this sold out event seemed to embrace the rare opportunity to sweat away their stresses sans bathing suits, so let’s hope this type of experience is the start of things to come on UK soil, and that attitudes can continue to be this healthy and mature across the board.
– Continuing our mini-festival of events down in Brighton (where so many of these events do seem to pop up), we were once again back in town for the World Naked Bike Ride in June – a series of annual protest events which seek to promote the message of a cleaner, safer and more body positive world. Having interviewed many of the previous participants in our website’s archives, and with several of our friends and followers taking part in this year’s ride, we were keen to get in on the action, and it was heartening to see that this year's event featured a strong, diverse turnout with people of all ages and bodies of all shapes and sizes.
As per tradition, the three-hour ride through the city centre, which is seemingly met with every human emotion imaginable from bystanders, concludes with a skinny dip after-party on Brighton beach. For those potentially interested in taking part, the event takes place globally each and every year, with participating cities in the UK also including the likes of London, Manchester and Bristol.
– In early July, we made our way over to Arundel Lido for the first of three skinny dip events that were taking place as part of The Great British Skinny Dip. For anyone seeking to dip their toe into the waters (both figuratively and literally) and trying a swim au natural, this will likely serve as the perfect entry point, and the 30 or so bathers enjoyed a solid few hours of splash time without the hindrance of a swimming costume.
The Great British Skinny Dip is an annual initiative that offers events up and down the country, with a plethora of venues and environments available. Although the bulk of the events understandably run in the summer months, there are a few that take place indoors throughout the year – so be sure to check out their listings by clicking here.
– Returning to the arts, our next venture of the year took us out to Margate, where we visited Jess Hazell at her first ever solo exhibition, Woman. Another artist who we had previously interviewed during lockdown, Jess has since transitioned away from body positivity art to an extent – but, over a glass of wine, we still took the opportunity to reflect on this period of her career before discussing her current views and perspectives on body confidence matters today. This was undoubtedly one of our favourite discussions of the year, and one that we’re certain our readers will find of value – so click here to enjoy the full write-up of our discussion with Jess.
– Our next collaboration was timed to coincide with Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s Bare All For Polar Bears fundraiser – which was due to return for the first time since 2019 – but sadly, it was once again cancelled just weeks before this year’s event was set to take place. Fortunately, the other plans for our weekend did hold up, and in mid-July we had the pleasure of meeting up with life model Rachel, for what would turn out to be one of our finest and most well-received features of the year.
Starting our day in the artist's studio in Manchester city centre where we got our interview underway, we ultimately traded in the city for the somewhat leafier surrounds of the North Yorkshire countryside; where we spent the entire afternoon discussing Rachel’s life modelling career to date while capturing some brand new images of the model exploring our picturesque venue. Rachel generously shared so much about her body confidence journey and the various challenges she's faced over the years, and the images serve as a testament to just how far the model has come over the years. It's an inspirational, heart-warming story that we're incredibly proud to feature on the site, and Rachel also shed a lot of light on the world of life modelling; and provided us with some perspectives we hadn't previously considered.
Both parts of this special feature are well worth the read, so to get started with part one, click here.
– Next on the agenda was the write-up from our interview with photographer, Violet Lambies, who is currently based in Barcelona following a three-year degree in photography at the University of Sussex. In addition to touching on Violet’s early motivations for picking up a camera, along with an exploration of her excellent Vulnerability in Nudity series, we also spoke at length about Violet’s relationship with her body over the years, the challenges presented by eating disorders, and the ways cultural attitudes towards bodies and nudity differ between the UK and Spain. This two-part special is right up there with our very best interviews of the year, so if you missed it first time around, make a start on part one by clicking here.
– In October, after many years of following Community Sauna Baths on our social channels, we finally took the opportunity to visit their Stratford location to while away a few hours – and we were more than impressed with the facilities on-site and the overall experience on offer. Specifically, the three communal wood-fired saunas on site, each of varying temperatures, were all above and beyond expectations, and we’d enthusiastically recommend the Stratford site to anyone seeking an authentic sauna spot in London.
As the name suggests, there was definitely a strong community feel to the venue, and it proved to be a friendly and welcoming environment from the moment we stepped inside the grounds. Although swimwear is required for the majority of the sessions, the poster in the changing rooms stating "Unnecessary comments about people's bodies and tattoos aren't welcome" sets the tone perfectly and made us feel right at home.
The other Community Sauna Baths locations, which we’ve yet to check out, are based in Hackney, Bermondsey and Peckham. You can book tickets and find out more on their website.
– Later that same day, we headed over to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for the latest Naked Cabaret event! These events provide a safe and fun space for acts to perform naked to a naked audience, in a desexualised environment, while raising money for good causes. This event, which featured no less than a dozen acts – including stand-up, improv, dance, clowning, hooping performers and more – raised £610 for MQ Mental Health Research, and a sold-out crowd of naked punters made it an evening to remember.
A special shout-out to the fantastic hosts, Alexis Dubus and Claire de Lunacy, for holding everything together and for ensuring everything flowed smoothly throughout the evening’s festivities, despite the somewhat chaotic nature of the event!
Naked Cabaret was originally created in Australia, but has been hosting ad-hoc events in the UK for close to a decade. Further details can be found on their Instagram page, and based on a recent post, it seems as though another London show in 2025 is imminent.
– We rounded out the year with our interview with Emily and Taylor, the co-organisers of the Flash for Farmers naked charity calendar based just outside of Sydney, Australia. Not only did this end up being our most-read story of the year by some considerable distance, it’s also the most clicks we’ve had on a single story on the site in over three years! Having amassed 5,000 views, we’ve undoubtedly ended the year on a high, and congratulations to those involved in the project for producing such inspiring images and for raising important funds in the process. You can read our full interview about how the calendar came together, and see an extensive selection of images that feature in the calendar, by clicking here.
– As the year drew to a close, we were just about able to sneak in a final, secret photoshoot in Brighton - details of which will be revealed in due course! August 2025 will mark five full years since Britain Uncovered first opened its doors, and we're planning an array of festivities to mark the occasion - including an exhibition featuring a gallery of our work alongside highlights of the many testimonials that have been published on our site during this timeframe. Stay tuned to our website and socials for more information as it becomes available!
Lastly, we'd just like to say a huge thank you for all your support this year, and it was such an honour getting to work with so many talented and creative people throughout the year also - we genuinely couldn't have done it without you. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, and see you in 2025!