Fra Beecher
Fra Beecher [b. 1986] is a life model and photographic artist.
Fra models for amateur and professional artists, at art schools, colleges and for community groups; she is also a co-founder of a life model collective. Fra studied Photographic Art at the University of Wales, Newport and taught Photography at Stroud School of Art. She recently completed a Masters in Photography at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). Her work brings together both her creative practices – modelling and image making.
Works
Body of Work
Body of Work explores the physical role the female life model. There are six chapters within the project Seated, Sustained, Object, Standing, Dynamic and Subject. Each image represents a life model who, seated or standing, has held a pose. The work challenges the misconception that female models are passive objects, by offering an alternative perspective on the experience of the models themselves.
In a life class, bodies are treated as objects. By documenting the tools used by life models, including their own bodies, the physicality of the role can be observed. The photographs speak of the disciplined nature, and physical discomfort, of posing. The act of looking is practiced through life drawing. These works explore the often unseen aspects of life modelling; they show the body at work, nudity is the uniform, not the subject.