East London workers were left baffled today after a woman was spotted sitting on a rooftop in the nude for four hours.
The naked woman was perched in an uncomfortable-looking position with her legs spread across a gable in Commercial Street, Whitechapel.
Witness Raquel Rodrigues, 29, photographed her from a nearby rooftop and said the extraordinary scene was visible to passers-by in the street.
The marketing manager told the Standard: "It looked very uncomfortable, I don't think there was anything between her and the rooftop.
"I don't know how she got away with it - if I was walking around naked I'd be arrested.
"There are lots of businesses around, people were having a peek and then going back to work."
Ms Rodrigues said that while the woman was turning heads, she did not create too much of a stir as people in east London are used to unconventional sights.
She added that she appeared to be shaking at times, perhaps from nervousness or the cold.
The stunt was eventually revealed to be a piece of performance art.
Artist Poppy Jackson was in place from 1pm to 5pm - and will be returning for the same hours on Saturday.
She was seen to take only a couple of breaks throughout the performance.
The work is titled simply "Site" and is part of a festival being held at Toynbee Studios, the building she was sitting on top of.
A blurb about the work said: "The piece investigates questions relating to temporality, the body in site, representation and gender through consideration of the use of the body in performance as an activist practice."
