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Nicolino's
Big Giant Bra Ball
When Nicolino decided not to give Emily Duffy his collection of
bras, he recruited his daughter and a small group of friends to
begin stringing chains of bras together in bra rubber-bands. Then
they stretched them tight around the growing ball, which is now
five feet tall and weighs 1,400 pounds.
Last summer, Nicolino — a self-described architect, building
contractor, bookkeeper, ass-kicker and schlepper — took the
Big Giant Bra Ball to San Francisco's Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade.
To solicit bras, he gave a bullhorn to one of the women he recruited
to accompany the ball on its trailer.
"At one time, it was a virtual hailstorm of bras," he
says. "San Francisco was feeling pretty festive that morning."
The Big Giant Bra Ball is conceptual art, says Nicolino. "It’s
about body image in western cultures, 200,000 breast implants each
year, 8,000,000,000 Barbies, little people, the connection between
self-esteem and loss of breast to mastectomy, five year olds with
eating disorders and more. It’s about art."
"Now that it's turned into a bra ball," says Nicolino,
"I still want to give the project away. But I want it to stay
a bra ball. I want it to continue to grow. I want it to get a big
pink semi instead of a pink Cadillac. Whoever gets it — whether
it's a group, an institution or a university — has to provide
a grand salon for exhibition."
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The
travelling bra ball: Nicolino takes the Big Giant
Bra Ball on the road in the pink Cadillac, sometimes accompanied
by five waitresses "who are these babes," he
says. "These women know where my project is coming
from. They're probably feminists. I consider myself a
feminist." One of their stops: Red's Recovery Room
in Cotati, Ca. Click the photo to hear Nicolino talk about
travelling with the ball.  |
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| Bra
spool to bra ball:
As a result of stories like this one in The London Times, tens
of thousands of bras were mailed to Nicolino after the media
latched on to Bras Across the Grand Canyon. He wound them around
a giant spool. |
all
photos courtesy of Nicolino
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