Leonard Nimoy – an enterprising spirit if there ever was one – has embarked on a new direction in his photography that’s endeared him forever to this fat-bottomed girl.

The Full Body Project is a collection of black-and-white portraits of proud, happy, large women based on famous paintings that’s meant to challenge our notions of beauty. The exhibit debuted last year at R. Michaelson Galleries and is available in book form.

In the book’s intro, 77 year-old Nimoy rallies against the malevolence of Madison Avenue:

The average American woman weighs 25 percent more than the models wearing the clothes marketed to her. There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to a fantasy ideal. The women in these pages are proudly wearing their own skins. They accept and respect themselves and I hope that my images convey that feeling to others.

For some big laughs, check out Leonard’s interview with Stephen Colbert – hilarious.

Personally, I’m not shocked that the man formerly known as Spock is pushing the boundaries of the feminine. He’s always represented the female form in his art in a provocative way, and really freaked out a lot of religious Jews a few years back with the Shekhina Project, an exploration of sacred sexuality that had scantily-clad women posing with male-only religious objects like tallit and tefillin. By taking his lens to big tushies and saggy boobies, he’s shaking up everyone, bless that pointy-eared Vulcan.

Hat tip to Jewtastic.com; cross-posted to savannah.skirt.com.