Polish Photographer Uses Jewish Cemetery for Naked Photo Shoot

Polish photographer Lukasz Szczygielski has apologized for conducting a photo shoot with a half-naked model at the Jewish cemetery in the southern Polish town of Checiny.

Szczygielski explained that he actually wanted to draw attention to what he said was a “neglected” and forgotten cemetery. The Jewish cemetery in Checiny was opened in the 17th century. There are approximately 150 tombstones in the cemetery.

The model posed against the headstones naked from the waist up, with a necklace bearing a large cross hanging between her breasts.

“This is not the appropriate form of drawing attention to Jewish cemeteries. I would prefer that this man rather clean up the cemetery rather than doing naked session there,” Krzysztof Bielawski of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews told local television station TVP Kielce.

“If it offended anyone I deeply apologize. This was not the intention of the session,” Szczygielski told the TV station.