Interview with Ethiopian nude model

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Fikirte is a nude model who is seen on many paintings. She feels like a book and the community resents her line of work.
Many of the nude figures have for years enabled art students to score higher results in their graduating paintings. An artist getting accolades because of an art piece has her sweat, long hours posing and persistence among other things.

Living in a very conservative society she lives a double life by creating another identity for herself. She knows living openly costs her dearly and that has made her to have disgraceful names. “They give me names worse than a prostitute,” she says.

With a little payment, being called disgraceful names, long hours of standing, having a headache and nausea for the past 18 years makes her forget when she looks at a painting of herself. It seems the paintings pay off and makes her smile.

Living around the art school area, Amist Kilo, she started her career when she was a teenager. After almost two decades she remembers vividly her first examination in the presence of five teachers.

Contrary to what is practiced in other countries, the Ethiopian models wear underwears and after examining her they told her she had passed the exam. On her first day she faced 25 students with their prying eyes. She did not hide the fact that how she felt nervous, sweating and shaking inside. Now she is a professional and always has the outer body experience, becoming someone else.

Depending on the different poses, standing, sitting and reclining, she is comfortable with staying completely still for up to an hour and a half. Some of the poses are very difficult, even after ten minutes. “I get really tired and feel pain but I still love what I do so I try to hide my pain,” Fikrte says.

After doing it for all these years she does not get tired. Rather she waits for the art school’s phone call, private artists’ phone call to be hired for the next modeling job. Her love for art is deep and she values her job highly but she does not forget what it means to live in one of the more conservative societies as a nude model. She made a lot of sacrifices and now she chose to lead a double life, hiding her other life even to those people who matter to her.

Her neighbors think she does secretarial services and her husband knows that she does cleaning jobs. Her four-year-old daughter is too young to question what her mother does, which is why she moved out of her neighborhood, in order to protect her daughter’s innocence.

Leaving around her birth area, Amist Kilo, everyone knew what she did and went up to her to ask her if she does not have anything to eat. “They actually would prefer to be a prostitute,” Fikrte says.

They mock her when she passes by saying “Oh she is going to be naked. She is like a toy for the artists.” She says that she despises them and moved to a different neighborhood to get peace of mind. Still she does not want to mention her father’s name and says, “Since he is part of the community, I don’t want him to feel ashamed because of me,” Fikrte says.

Coming from a very poor family she says she helped her mother and her brother when they were alive. So she does not regret what she does and enjoys being part of the art community.

She has never taken a sick leave and instead works in extreme circumstances such as when she is on her period and when she was pregnant. Actually she went into labor while working. While she was pregnant the smell of different paint chemicals and strenuous hours of standing still didn’t break her.

There are rumors among the art community about the sexual predators but she says she has never faced that. She sees the artist as a sort of perfectionist who understands everything, which is why she dreams of her daughter becoming an artist.

When she started working, the payment was two birr per hour and for private artists five birr. Now it is 20 birr. It is not only that the money is little but she has also had clients who did not want to pay her. A recent experience with an Ethiopian artist is one of the more painful incidents. “I felt deeply sad and this man has a daughter,” Fikrte says.

On the other hand, a graduating student after observing this gave her 600 birr, which amazed her. Her love for the job is deep but she feels like she is invisible, unnoticed, unappreciated because of the payment and the working conditions.

“We sometimes stand on concrete floor for hours. We don’t have health insurance and we don’t have contracts,” Fikrte says.

Many of the models share her resentment and that is why many of the nude models have left this line of job and wanted to abandon their pursuits. Resisting the society’s comments, many of the models try to give a lively figure for the art community of Ethiopia. With the introduction of the art school in Ethiopia some of the concepts were alien to the community. Using nude models for paintings, sculptures, and sketches was strange. One prominent artist and instructor at Ale Felegeselam, Bekele Mekonnen, reminisces those times vividly.

The first day of the first year of art school was unforgettable for him, filled with nervousness. He was sweating after seeing a nude model. That was the introduction to art school, and a shocking moment. The usual trend in the art school was to have models with clothes; half nudity and the nude models come after second year. As it has been said, art should shock people; their instructor shocked them. This was around 1979 and the shock was moderate.

The art school did not only face shocking student. Rather, around the start of the art school, the school founder , Ale Felegeselam, was sued for indecent behavior by the then patriarch. The charge was exposing a respected body and being deviant to the culture. Ale had to go to the police station and to the patriarch and explain what nude models were.

It is not only the community and the religious institutions that were conservative but also urban Ethiopia was very conservative. In the 1960’s Addis Ababa University students threw stones on beauty contestants for wearing short skirts.

During the 1980’s when Bekele was a student the students started getting used to the artsy side of nudity. The amateur models were uneasy about their bodies and mutually, the students were uneasy about looking at them.

The models were different in age, sex, and body structure and many of the models used to wear clothes but also nude models were many in number compared to contemporary times.

There were incidents such as a nude man model that saw a beautiful woman and his body reacted in a certain way, visible to the students.

“It was not only difficult for the students but also for the models, it was not easy but after sometime we came over it,” Bekele says.

But for the women artists, according to Bekele, it was easy to get used to nudity.

Bekele fondly remembers the then models such as a nude model named Kaffa Gebremariam who used to entertain students during breaks with the little payment, and after sometime many left and many died.

He remembers models such as Demissie who was a member of the imperial bodyguard who is part of his unique sculpture works. Still he remembers his unforgettable face with tears in his eyes, a face with a story to tell. Apart from that there were priests, guards, patriots and more who were models.

According to Bekele, the reason why they are decreasing in number is because of the payment, which is discouraging to say the least.

Since the art community is a closed community many people do not know about the nude models, which is a blessing. With this disconnection of the art from the community, the nude models have not been exposed. Sometimes artists used to be models for each other, use relatives and if impossible use pictures. It was a must to use the nude models to know about anatomy.

Bekele saw courageous models during his stay in Russia where nudity is not overrated and it gave him a different insight. He saw how people measure the different body parts learning about human anatomy.

The nude models enable them to know human anatomy more deeply and closely. They answered questions such as what happens if the left leg is stretched forward to the other body part. It is not only nude models but also skulls, dead bodies’ part that serve as models. “The dead part of a body can be a model,” Bekele says.

He says the skull is a very mysterious part of body that puts people on an endless journey.

In contrast, in many countries it is a prestige to be a model for famous artists.

With this line of job there are also sexual harassments in many countries even though it is not frequent. There were even high school students who did part time modeling to get money and were asked for sexual favors. The artwork is used for educational purposes and also exhibited but the art community was not big.

Like many artists such as Picasso who had model mistresses, there were Ethiopian artists with model mistresses. The models were not only muses, there were artists who were married to the artists; artists such as the late Daniel Tuafe who married his model.

Nowadays, at Ale Felegeselam Art School, many of the models wear clothes while others leave the profession.

Birhanu Gebremariam, 24, started doing nude modeling two years ago after he heard about the job from his friend. His first time as it was expected was a little bit scary with piercing eyes and there was a feeling of vulnerability.

He understands the difficulty of the job and does trainings and exercises to be fit for the job. With the uniqueness of the job, the payment is a frustration. Sometimes he actually borrows money from people. Sometimes what makes him frustrated is trying to fulfill the interest of every student in the room. He once got into a confrontation with a couple of students. With the headache, and long hours of standing, he works four days a week, eight hours a day. The payment is every 15 days and he still loves to see his figure. Artists who used those models see the models as a very important part of their career.

For artists such as Tamirat Gezahegn he tries to see the body in a different way, the anatomy of the body, the proportion of the joints not in a sexual way. On their first year, there were still life paintings, portraits of models wearing clothes. After the second year when the subject got complicated the nude models were introduced. He says since they are introduced to the nudity in a different way starting from fully clothed models to half naked and then complete nudity, it was easy to take it in. For him the proportion, color, and texture matter and his paintings were possible because of the models he studies. He tries to see the human body differently and see it as an art piece, nothing more than that.

Being an artist, they also break societal norms and help make things seen in a normal way and for many of the artists nudity is normalized. Artist and instructor Yakob Bizuneh can be a witness to the normalization process.

When he was a student six years ago working in a studio they use to go to brokers to find models. Even though the brokers only knew maids they would try to negotiate their way with the maids and tell them the only thing they had to do was stand and sit for some time. Around six years ago he used to pay them 300 birr per month.

Finding it strange, many of the women come and get painted fully clothed, but after some time they get used to the job and simply do what they are told. Still many of them are very uncomfortable with nudity and he says Fikrte is one of the professional models. Those nude models, especially the women who broke societal restraints were discouraged by the payments and now are vanishing from drawings, sketches, and sculptures.