Controversial Nude Art Project Calls Attention to Dead Sea Troubles

Uriel Sinai/Getty Images(JERUSALEM) -- A controversial art project at the Dead Sea seeks to call attention to the endangered natural body of water.

The famously salty Dead Sea is drying up at an alarming rate of over 3 feet a year.

Over a thousand Israelis congregated on the shorefront to strip off their clothes for the camera lens of American photographer Spencer Tunick.  He shot the nude group floating in the water, on the shore and covered in the black mineral-rich mud.

"I worked so hard to get this location because I wanted to show people that as the water level is dropping people have to stay on top of the land cause soon there won't be any water there," Tunick said.

Some here, including Israeli lawmakers, tried to stop this project saying it violated religious sensitivities.

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