In Seattle in 1977, Gloria Bornstein staged a feminist performance piece, Public Document. In the part of the performance seen here, the artist draped herself in several layers of clothing, including a man’s Hasidic coat and hat, her grandmother’s dress, and ceremonial objects worn in nontraditional ways. Bornstein then ritualistically removed these garments.

Unlike some feminist performance art based on traditional burlesque, Public Document did not end with a “money shot” of Bornstein’s naked body. Instead, the artist’s final reveal was a heavy black wetsuit that masked her body in an androgynous rubber skin. In the tight close-ups of these photographs, Bornstein’s striptease is deliberately clumsy and unalluring. The ambiguous images suggest the impossibility of full disclosure.