Over recent years, London-based photographer Sarah Piantadosi has noticed an unmistakable shift in the best way young people think concerning the politics of the body. Starting with the rise of fourth-wave feminism, and gaining momentum of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, Piantadosi tells Dazed she was struck that “so many individuals everywhere in the world were making poignant critique and commentary on oppressive white patriarchal structures… This pertains to the body in a really personal way,” she reflects. “Having your selfhood ‘othered’ is solely not something young persons are willing to tolerate anymore.”

This seismic shift was the first inspiration for Piantadosi’s latest book, Bone. Over the course of a 12 months and a half, Piantadosi photographed greater than 50 twenty-somethings in each London and Paris. What emerges is a radiant collection of nude portraiture and a fascinating snapshot of a generation that’s by turns enigmatic and defiant. A model with a buzzcut stares directly on the viewer, an extended ponytail of hair raised of their fist like a trophy. One other holds a fragile white flower, while a lit match hangs from their mouth. Throughout, Bone is each invitation and challenge.

“Having your selfhood ‘othered’ is solely not something young persons are willing to tolerate anymore” – Sarah Piantadosi

Although most of the portraits have a transcendent, otherworldly beauty, Piantadosi says the project isn’t about “the body as an object or composition”, but moderately “selfhood and directness.” “To me,” she stresses, “the pictures are saying I AM HERE – don’t disregard me or ignore me. Take a look at me, understand me and accept me.”

Perhaps surprisingly, taking a look at these photographs, Piantadosi has not at all times been comfortable with nude portraiture. She emphasises that “photography has a history of exploitation”, and suggests stories from the #MeToo movement “really delivered to light just how seedy the industry is for thus many models”. In her business and editorial work as a fashion photographer, she found herself veering away from nudity, and the ability dynamic it implied. “My approach on the time was to do the alternative of nudity and use clothes and layering for character constructing,” she says. Yet, she began to query this approach. “I began to have a look at my very own life, and the way I subconsciously used a proximity to maleness to try and feel powerful, and the way flawed this logic was within the greater conversation around gender equality,” Piantadosi confesses. “This project was a method to confront my very own discomfort.”