Stripped-down science lecture

During the last five years or so, I have more or less regularly jumped in as a model for the croquis drawing groups at the arts school. It is probably the easiest money I have ever made. I am merely laying/sitting/standing there under the warming piggy lamp, contemplating about life and love and other things.

I have heard that other nude models (more or less professional ones) make prestige out of keeping themselves objectified by never talking to the drawing students or catching their eye and similar things. I am just the opposite. Nudity is anything but charged for me, and I am laughing and talking, making fun of the sometimes weird interpretations of my own body and so on, and I have a feeling that this approach creates a more relaxed atmosphere in the studio than if you keep it too serious. Because the bottom line is, that it is certainly not me who is embarrassed about myself being naked. It is the students - at least the ones that are new to drawing croquis.

Yesterday was the last gathering for a more independent group of people with various creative background who have had some croquis sessions for the fun of it and to get some proportions practice. This last evening only four participants came and we had a very informal and nice evening. All four of them decided to work with soft pastel crayons instead of charcoal and the drawings were amazing! I so regretted that I did not bring my camera to shoot some of them.

Anyway, while they were drawing colourful images of my body in different positions, I was telling them about the nature of my MSc research project, and since three of them were landscape architect students, they actually had had enough plant courses to follow me quite well. Then we moved over to the controversial subject of genetically modified crops, since that is a question that will always pop up in such a discussion. We ended up with a naked woman laying there killing myth after myth about whether it is dangerous to eat foreign DNA (!) or whether there will develop mutant man-eating flowers after some generations, by simply explaining basic evolutionary dynamics, as well as what kinds of measures that are taken today with these crops, as well as the environmental benefits you achieve when you can reduce the use of chemicals to protect those crops. Although the need for common sense in the use of this technology cannot be stressed enough, if you ask the naked woman, she feels that this is a gift rather than a curse...