Photographer Scott Pilgrim told me it was a self-portraiture project for school. I had a hunch though that there was more to the picture than that.

Scotts lives in Toronto, attends Guelph-Humber university, works at American Apparel, and builds his commercial/artistic portfolio in his sparetime. His "partner in crime", Carl Heindl, took the photos of Scott running naked through Toronto's busiest intersection of Younge & Dundas. Carl and Scott organize a photography collective together, called FOES, which you can find on Flickr, and publish a bi-monthly zine.

Scott attended the BealArt program where he figured out photography was his artistic medium of choice. While in London, Scott put on one of the most well-attended art exhibits at East Village Arts entitled FOTO. He has also contributed several fabulous photo series to Fuse.

Talking to Scott I asked if he has any influences and he mentions photographer Terry Richardson.

... it's not really his work but his approach. I'm not really inspired by a particular artist but more so what they've achieved. I'm really attempting to create a brand identity or synonymous style between my fine art photography and my commercial work. That's why Terry is one of my major influence, because he's done just that.

Talking about his wild-stunt Scott tells me that the self-portraituire series was a project for a Human Figure class at Guelph-Humber.

... the week we had the assignment assigned we had a guest speaker. He talked about this self portraiture project that he did that wasn't even photography. And he had hired actors to portray him in films based off of facts he gathered and summarized from a survey. So when I heard that it really changed my ideas about self portraiture.

I asked him if he got a chance to check out the crowds response or if he was lost in some adrenaline-fueled trance. "They got pretty loud so it was hard to miss their reactions." I then ask him if this is the craziest submission his school has had for a project like this?

I think so, I mean it was really risky and I coulda ended up in some trouble so I think it's probably the craziest. It's just kinda how I had to approach it though, since it's a self portrait assignment I wanted it to speak volumes about myself and my views on art.

If you're interested in Scott's work you should check out his Flickr profile. While you're at it be sure to look at Carl Heindl's Flickr as well. Also, don't miss Scott's photo series on the homes (cribs) of two local artists, James Kirkpatrick and Paterson Hodgson here on Fuse.