N° 15 | 2023
Vidas de modelo, modelos de vida
Life as a model, life style - Vies de modèle, modèles de vie

In 2008 and 2014, live models in France demonstrated to make it clear that posing nude was a "real profession", and to demand recognition of their status and an improvement in their living conditions. Because the use of a live model allows the artist to ensure that what he or she represents conforms to a human possibility, we tend to forget the key role that models play in Art and, recently, in the Digital World. It should be recalled the art of posing is not so much about the beauty of the body as it is about meeting the needs of the artist. The model is therefore far from being a simple object offered to the eye. 

It is the complexity of this profession that we would like to bring to light in the next issue of the magazine TraHs (Trayectorias Humanas Trascontinentales). Because this profession is not well known, we would like to focus on reflections, testimonies, and interviews, highlighting the choices it involves in all areas. It is also legitimate to ask whether the way the profession is viewed - and the attitude of the authorities - has changed over the centuries, as have the demands of employers. Is the very definition of "model" changing? Why and how does one become a model? Does this profession make people dream? What strategies are set up to circumvent moral, religious and health prohibitions? How, for example, did models organise themselves during periods of confinement? This is only the beginning of a non-exhaustive list of questions...

It is therefore a question of collecting experiences and information throughout the history of humanity, on all continents, in an interdisciplinary dynamic: the profession of model can be approached from all its facets, whether financial, psychological, historical, aesthetic, physical or social...