Arai Kesava Naidu is a model who has posed for many of the painters in the Indian Progressive Artist Group, whose most renowned member is Akbar Padamsee. The Muse/The Model series begins with her re-enacting from memory the poses she performed for these artists during a drawing session with students at Bombay's J.J. School of Art. Photographed in this way, she is a living archive on the bangs of Indian modernism.

We then see her visiting Bombay's National Gallery for the first time. A pastime she had never allowed herself, being a Dalit. She strolls past paintings by artists for some of whom she has worked. The photo records this event from a respectful distance.