This artist is recreating anonymous Tinder nudes

Frances Waite has seen a lot. Literally. After putting out her phone number with a request for nudes on her Instagram, the Brooklyn-based artist has basically been inundated with balls, boobs and belfies – and so far, she's pretty pleased about it. “There is this girl that sends me nudes of her and her friends every other week or so,” she says fondly. “They all have so much character... I even put her into my contacts as ‘Best Nudes’.”

You're probably wondering why – and when Waite started the project, she barely knew herself. In fact, she first put out the request as a way of passing the time while suffering from artist's block. With just one post declaring “Please send me your nudes so I can draw them while I figure out my next move”, she sealed her fate. Pictures began to pour in – some with messages and faces included, but most without. “Anonymous selfies are really special,” she explains. “I guess it's really the puzzle of the situation that makes it exciting for me – like how much evidence of this persons character can I find in this photo on my phone? It's hard and it's really satisfying to make it happen. It puts this pressure on me to make this person really feel good about exposing themselves.” 

Since the project started just over two months ago, Waites has extended her reach even further by moving from Instagram to Tinder – though, as it's all anonymous, it's hard to spot whether or not there's a difference in users. “So far I've been really lucky – all the people that have gotten involved with this project want to see it succeed and not drag it into some dark or illegal place – which would be pretty easy because I've basically given the Internet my phone number.”

See more of Frances' work on her website or follow her on Instagram