Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA)

What It's Really Like to Be a Life Model

The video follows a former professional life model who spent years posing for artist Pru, describing how an eight‑hour studio routine became a familiar, collaborative ritual. She recounts how a chance call to replace a cancelled model launched a two‑decade partnership that produced dozens of large paintings and intimate portrait studies. Key insights emerge around the model’s active role: she supplies clothing, mood cues, and personal symbols—like tattoos or an owl motif—to shape each composition. Simultaneously, she weaves her academic focus on female representation in film into the visual narrative, treating the canvas as another site of gendered inquiry. Memorable moments include the surreal “hands over the face” pose from *The Bath* and the almost mythic bond with Pru, which she describes as feeling like a mother‑daughter reunion from a past life. The model also notes the privilege of seeing herself both as subject and collaborator, with personal details sometimes hidden, sometimes highlighted. The story underscores how life modeling transcends passive observation, becoming a dialogue that informs artistic intent, challenges conventional representations of women, and offers models a rare glimpse into the creation of enduring fine‑art works.