‘Nudity is not the end of the exercise, it is the beginning.’
Conversation in the nude is a provocative book on nude sketching by a Delhi based journalist, Mihir Srivastava. It is a strange concept, yet very intriguing as the author has thrown some light on the realities of life.
The book is about nude sketching, which carries challenges and various notions of self, sexuality and social probity. He has highlighted the so called tension, the taboos, the vulnerabilities and its effects on people. Mihir has brought a distinguishing truth between the public nudity in the closed doors body bareness in the open. The book is an artistic collaboration or rather we can call it a social experiment or maybe both.
The book can be started off with a quick note, but after a while you need to stop reading and keep the book aside and think a little over it. The book is intense as well as judgemental. Conversations in the Nude maps that experiment, presents those sketches, chronicles several remarkable sessions. These are the stories of one man s crazy dream, and of the very many who saw some sense in it. The book, the author has mentioned his meetings with spectacularly different people ranging from a wrestler to a hermit who has relinquished the world (and not so) to friends who want to pose and people who hesitate and yet decide to pose to celebrities as well.
"Conversations in the Nude" is not a statement, but a perspective of a writer and an artist. The feel of the book and its style is what intrigued me as it contains perception, judgment and also the opinions of others, all at the same platform. The rawness of the sketches is what perhaps defines the entire book. "Conversations in the Nude" is a different book. It is a must read book, but without prejudice. It is an experience that will make you look at things differently - the body, the mind and maybe even the soul.
When asked about the starting point of nudity from the author, he said “All of us use clothes to project an identity, whether it is our ethnicity or gender. But once you are naked, you cease to project. I travelled to Europe last year and I was fascinated with public nudity in Germany and Finland. I was in the nude with friends for hours together on a beach and in a public sauna. But when I asked them to pose one-on-one, they refused. People in India were far more receptive.”
A highly recommended book. Available at lelobooks, an online bookstore in India. Stay tuned with lelobooks for more book reviews!
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