A Texas college student sat outside a university library for 45 minutes yesterday, seemingly with no clothes on, in the name of performance art.
Monika Rostvold, 22, stripped down to a flesh-colored thong and nipple pasties on campus at Texas State University, San Marcos, hoping to prove a point about sexuality.
Rostvold, who from a distance indeed appeared to be wearing nothing, also cut herself off from the outside world by putting on a blindfold and wearing headphones.
On display: Monika Rostvold, 22, stripped down to nipple pasties and a flesh-colored thong at Texas State University for an art project
Revealing: Rostvold, who is studying for a Fine Arts degree, said she was nervous as she sat down in front of crowds of passing students, who uploaded images to social media
Fellow students gathered around her during the nude vigil, held outside the Albert B. Alkek Library, and flooded social media with images of Rostvold, who was swiftly dubbed 'the naked chick'.
At one point campus police even tried to intervene, but Rostvold said that they left her alone after her she persuaded them that her skimpy display was not against the law.
Rostvold, who is studying for a Fine Arts degree, said later that exposing her body so publicly was in fact an attempt to de-sexualize it.
Speaking to campus radio station KTSW, she said: 'My body is beautiful, natural, this is what it's supposed to be. I'm trying to take away it being a sex object.'
Describing the experience, she said: 'I was fully clothed when I got there... I recorded myself walking up to the steps and then completely taking my clothes off and then putting the ribbon [blindfold] and putting the headphones on.'
She added: 'I was there for 45minutes in total and I was so nervous, I was sweating so bad, my heart was pounding and, like, really crazy.'
Face-to-face with the law: Rostvold is pictured above dealing with Texas State University Police, whom she convinced she was doing nothing wrong
Rostvold said her strategy for not getting distracted during her display was to 'zone out' and ignore everything around her.
She said: 'So I would just kinda just like zone out and go into this meditative stance and focus on my breathing and feel the sun - and it really heightened my other senses.'
She added that she looked up nudity laws before and judged that so long she covered her nipples there would be no problem.
And, although the San Marcos municipal code defines public nudity as displaying 'any portion of the breast at or below the areola, Texas State University Police seemed to be persuaded by her reasoning.
Rostvold added that the response from her fellow students has been 'awesome' and that her peers appear to support her, and left appreciative notes.
The student, who also paints on canvas and has published nude works online, has said that her sexuality is a key part of her art.
In a statement on her blog, she said: 'Being a female artist its hard not to recognize how overly sexualized women are in societies [sic] culture.
'Pop culture, as a young girl, told me how to be a seductive woman. While, Personal [sic] experiences lead me to question ideas about sensuality. My vibrant color scheme and contemporary subject matter I deconstruct what is socially considered sexy.'
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