There were a lot of blue naked people in Hull this weekend

If you were in Hull on this weekend, or have seen images of the city on social media, you may have been surprised at the abundance of people painted blue.

There were a lot of them.

The reason is, of course, an art installation.

Hull is to be made the UK City of Culture in 2017, and the American photographer Spencer Tunick was commissioned to commemorate this.

His brief was to photograph hundreds of the city's residents in a setting that recalls Hull's seafaring history.

Tunick said of the installation:

I’m very interested in the history of the city and its place as a seafaring centre and its relationship to a rich maritime past.

It intrigues me that in some places where there are major streets or parks today, previously there was water. To reflect this I’ll be using body paint so that the massed people create the idea of a sea of humanity flooding the urban landscape.

So the obvious happened.

The finished work will be unveiled next year, in line with the city's accolade.

For the meantime, there have been many images of the preparation for the installation on social media.

They were also spotted around town, still blue, afterwards. Which is nice.

What a time to be a sea.

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