A personal essay exploring how life modelling, a job that involves posing nude for artists, helped the author overcome negative body image and build confidence.
I sometimes take my clothes off for money. There’s usually 10 or so people with me when I do, and it’s a good way to earn some money on the side. And before you start getting ideas, I don’t get naked for that reason. I’m a part-time life model. I stand on a crate for two hours, holding a cloth or something, while a bunch of strangers scribble me into a sketchbook. It’s a good gig. The artists are fairly chatty beforehand, making it easier for me to drop my undies and lock into a pose.
It also does a lot for my body confidence, as you would imagine, being able to present myself like this. But I haven’t always been so comfortable in my own skin as to want to expose it to a circle of pencil-sharpening randos. Nudity is the stuff of nightmares for most Australians - but for Germans it’s about connecting with nature.This is mostly because I am relatively tall, and grew to that height fast. I have a pretty lean figure as a result, with a tendency to evaporate food almost as quickly as it’s eaten. Because of this, my dad once referred to me in passing, when I was 12, as a bag of bones.Even now, approaching my 30s, it’s hard to see past that stretched, pale teenager looking back at me in the mirror. A few years ago, I decided I needed to course-correct the way I felt about my body, to try to see myself the way others saw me. And so I applied for my first life modelling class and have kept it up since. Through these small, detailed sketches, I can appreciate I’m not that skinny, actually. My shoulders aren’t as bony as I think they are. And my ass looks OK.Liam Heitmann-Ryce-LeMercier Honestly, some of the sketches are gorgeous. I get the chance to take a quick peek before the class finishes. I like to take snaps of the art on my phone – they are small, important milestones in my changing relationship with my body. Of course, for many people, the idea of standing naked in front of a room full of strangers for two hours is the stuff of nightmare
BODY IMAGE LIFE MODELING CONFIDENCE ART SELF-ACCEPTANCE
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