Lena Dunham Poses Wearing Only Body Paint in Portrait Taken by Her Mom, Laurie Simmons

Lena Dunham has never been shy about sharing her body with the world. The star appeared nude or nearly nude many times on her show Girls, has shared naked photos of herself on Instagram and has spoken out time and time again about her own body image. And now, the 31-year-old actress is embarking on an entirely new type of nudity, as she wears only body paint in a new portrait taken by her own mother.

The star, whose mom, Laurie Simmons, is a renowned photographer, shared the shot of herself on Instagram, and revealed it was one of the first times she was her mother’s subject.

Dunham writes that growing up, her mom rarely took photos of her. But with a new project in the works, she finally convinced her mom to photograph her—and the body paint was part of the deal.

“When she started to take these portraits of people (all in body paint) I actually suggested to her that I’d be the perfect subject. At first she was unmoved but after months of nagging relented and she even let me choose my own inspiration photo (Audrey Hepburn, obvs, cuz curvy girls can do Audrey too.)”

Noam Galai

Dunham’s stripped state is easy to miss at first, as it appears as though she’s wearing a black-and-white striped shirt and black pants, both of which are simply painted on her body.

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“The entire outfit here—and I mean everything—is body paint and the lens is so specifically my mothers [sic],” Dunham writes, adding, “I learned more about her when she took a picture of me than I have in 25 years of therapy.”

The star has spoken out about her figure many times in the past, and posed on the February 2017 cover of Glamour without any Photoshopping. “Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn’t matter—my body isn’t fair game. No one’s is, no matter their size, color, gender identity, and there’s a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful.”