Our event at ‘Women of the World’ last Sunday has moved me profoundly. Having recordings of interviews with models was very powerful, as some of those women would have been too nervous to say those things live or even turn up. I am copying a message I received from one of the models, Niomi, as it expresses well some of the passion felt by those involved. I am also posting images from the event.
To summarise; ten women with varying levels of experience started the posing. They were aged about 30 – 63 and had a wide range of body types between them, as well as reasons for participating. From being an experienced professional model disillusioned with it all and wanting a different more empowering space in which to model again; embracing a new body post-op transgender; to stop feeling invisible as an older woman with MS and mostly paralysed; or wanting to engage with a wider discussion about body and sexual politics as we consider how best to move forward with Spirited Bodies.
Whilst the models posed I played the recordings of four of them as well as two others by women who did not pose on the day. Each testimony told a different story – from the relatively light-hearted journey of embracing one’s body in a new way through life modelling, to the more intense reality of wishing that one day you might be able to move your limbs again and your degenerative disease go into reverse. Where I could, I asked the model who was talking in the recording to be in the centre of that pose. One bit of feedback I got from one of the women drawing, was that hearing the models’ thoughts whilst drawing them, affected the way she drew. The model instead of relatively silent was expressing her innermost thoughts, fears and ambitions.
About half way through the session I started asking members of the ‘audience’ if they would like to try posing, and some of them did, so that was lovely to have some total newcomers.
When I was interviewing models, the conversation sometimes moved towards the future. When and how will we invite men back again? Could we have a post-event discussion session to allow models to process together as a group their thoughts, to make an event more complete, and beyond the act of modelling itself? How open can we be towards men when we have had a few tricky experiences with male models being involved in the past? Would we just work with the ones we know and trust? After all, the safety of vulnerable women must be our priority.
Here is some of the artwork from Sunday; the poses lasted from about 6 to 17 minutes.
Here is Niomi’s letter;
HI ESTHER.
Spirited Bodies 
A great post and a great day, thank you very much for organising. It was special and moving.
Thank you Marianne, it was wonderful to have you with us, thank you for your participation.
Sounds like an amazing day. You have an amazing and powerful view on female expression and freedom Esther – stick to it and don’t let anyone dilute it or corrupt it. I don’t think men had any role to play in this event and rightly so. Good luck with your one-woman (plus musician !) show !
Thank you Neil, these are exciting times indeed! You are welcome to come to see ‘Girl in Suitcase’, but if not this time I know there will be other opportunities.
There is a time for women with Spirited Bodies, and a time for women with men. The time for men alone has not yet arisen, but who knows what the future holds!