To eke out a living, women bare for a pittance for art students in Calcutta

Women bare for a pittance. 

They have been stripped of everything including their pride. For the dozen-odd destitute women of Calcutta, who are compelled to model in the nude for art students in the city's various art institutions, life couldn't get any worse. Driven by the desperation to eke out a living, they spend most of their days standing naked. Only to be paid a pittance for it - between Rs 10 and Rs 20 a day.

Though they have inspired many a painter and sculptor, and the canvases portraying them adorn the homes of the rich and the famous, they are the nowhere women. Far removed from the glamour world of fashion modelling, they live in abject poverty and have only joblessness and starvation waiting for them. The so far indifferent art community has at last been pricked by conscience. But while the exhibition organised by some city artists later this month will raise money for the models, it will also hold out in bold relief their exploitation by the art world.

"We barter our shame and pride," says Saswati, 32, who commutes from Baruipur, on the city's outskirts. But it's an unfair barter. Not good looking, often ugly, they cannot command a price. While the minimum daily wage stipulated by the state Government is Rs 27.50, Saswati can only hope to get Rs 20 for taking off her clothes completely at the Government Art College. At the Academy of Fine Arts, she is paid a bare Rs 16. The payment is even less for topless modelling. "They are an exploited lot," regrets famous painter Paritosh Sen, if predictably.

But these abject women lack any alternatives. After her husband deserted her, Saswati was left with a son and nowhere to go. She made paper-bags for a while before an art college student got her work. Rita Das, 30, too cannot but continue to strip for money's sake. She has to support her tuberculosis patient husband and a son. She herself suffers from impaired speech after a bout of typhoid and cannot hold another job. Not that striking a pose and standing like a statue for hours isn't taxing. "At times our body aches. In winter, we shiver without clothes." she says.

The destitute nude models are caught in a double bind: continuing exploitation by art institutes coupled with dwindling demand for their services.
The only consolation for these women is that they are not selling their bodies-only displaying them. Though initially ignorant of the rarefied world of art, some of them go on to take pride in serving an exalted cause. Old - timers at the art college remember how Maya, after a modelling session, used to go around the classroom peering at the easles and often commenting on the student's work. The students too view them clinically. "Sex is never on one's mind," says Suvaprasanna, an artist.

But coming to terms with nudity is not easy for the female models. Dilshad posed fully clothed for portraits for months before agreeing to bare. Now, she says: "After 10 years in the profession, nudity in the classroom seems normal. Yet, back home, in front of a visitor, if my sari pallu slips. I feel embarrassed." The models are also haunted by the social stigma that their work can bring upon them. So, they hide what they do from their families.

The worst part for models like Saswati and Rita is the intermittent nature of their work. Art institutions are few and takers for modelling many. The long, customary vacations at the colleges only mean lay-offs. Besides, they last for at the most a decade before fresher faces and younger bodies drive them out of the art classes. Dilshad, now 36, barely finds an assignment despite her daily rounds. "To earn Rs 20, we end up spending half the money on conveyance." she rues. Calls from private art studios and individual artists are fast becoming infrequent. As Paritosh Sen puts it: "Artists are relying more on their wives and friends than hired models."

"The models have little hope." admits Isha Mohammed, principal at the Government Art College. Quite, going by past experience. Maya was a popular model in the 70s, but she died of tuberculosis recently, in penury and unsung. Two old-timers, Kalpana and Jamuna, have disappeared from the scene. Nobody can vouch whether they are still alive. In the 70s again. Jayantilal, 70, and Durga,65, were the only two male models available. But now reduced to skeletons, they are jobless. "Our attitude towards the models has been criminally indifferent," admits painter Samir Aich.

Aich has galvanised some fellow painters into putting up an exhibition in aid of the nude models. It will be hosted by a prominent city gallery which has agreed to forgo its commission. Aich hopes to raise at least Rs 5 lakh from sales, all of which will be distributed among the needy models. While that promises some light at the end of the tunnel for the poor models, the present remains a nakedly exploitative one.

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