[KarlMalone]

Nude selfies at 35,000ft! The artist stripping off in airplane bathrooms

In 2018, on a 16 hour-long flight from New York to Taipei, Taiwanese artist John Yuyi stepped into the bathroom cabinet and took a selfie in the mirror. It’s something most of us have done at some time or another, as a way of capturing an unusual, disjointed, and occasionally disconcerting moment when there’s nothing but 35,000 feet of air between us and our lives on earth.

What likely separates most of our shots from Yuyi’s, however, is one small detail – having stripped off her clothes as she entered the cubicle, the image depicts her almost entirely nude.

“It was definitely a bit of a lightning flash moment,” she reveals. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to wash my face and clean up a bit, and just decided to do it. After I left the toilet, I just walked back to my seat. It felt really weird – like you’ve told yourself an inside joke, and you’re the only one that knows.”

In the three years since that first, spontaneous moment, the idea has evolved into a full-blown series – although not all of the photos make the cut.