Uncovered: Women in Word and Image

Jordan Matter's Uncovered is a book of portraits and personal statements from over 80 brave women, who posed bare-breasted for the project in public locations across New York City.

In her foreword, author Susan Seligson states what all men and women already know: 'Breasts are an inexplicably big deal.' Whether hidden under layers of clothing, half-revealed in the service of fashion (and flirtation) or laid brazenly bare, breasts matter. They demand response, provoke moral questions and force confrontation with the very notion of taboo.

Over a period of six years, Jordan Matter photographed women bare-breasted in New York City. They varied in terms of age, education and profession. Every one was a volunteer. Every subject faced reactions to her decision to defy convention, and many confronted feelings of shame and inadequacy. But after the shoots, the women were unexpectedly euphoric—and Matter wondered just what he had uncovered.

Many of the women agreed to interviews or wrote their own texts for this collection, revealing their journeys toward self-acceptance. The result is a remarkable chorus of shared experience, secret fears, optimism and wisdom. Uncovered celebrates the controversial female body. But it also honors the individual women who were willing to confront their culture and themselves. These are their images and their stories, in their own words.

'This amazingly unique celebration of women's breasts is not only brave and beautiful, but also insightful and inspiring enough to make even the most frustrated female excited about her body.' -- Nancy Redd, New York Times bestselling author of Body Drama

Ten percent of the profits from sales of Uncovered merchandise will benefit the Somaly Mam Foundation, a nonprofit public charity committed to ending sexual slavery in Southeast Asia.