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"Sex Work Is Work": Pop-Up Art Exhibition Seeks To Destigmatize Sex Work
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Mar 9, 2020
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By
Sydney Pereira
Published Mar 9, 2020
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An art exhibition aimed at destigmatizing sex work opens in Manhattan on Tuesday.
The Sex Workers' Pop-Up features artwork across 10 different countries and aims to elevate sex workers' voices and drive the narrative around how their work is viewed. More than half of the 22 artists have a history with sex work themselves.
"What we're really hoping audiences walk away with is that sex work is really often misunderstood, misrepresented and stigmatized," Daveen Trentman, a co-curator on the project and co-founder of Soze Agency, told Gothamist. The pop-up gives viewers the ability to "actually listen to the voices of sex workers and hear what they have to say."
Trentman co-curated the exhibition with Qori Broaster and Alexis Heller, led by an advisory committee from groups based in the U.S., Australia, France, Scotland, and South Africa, and supported by the Open Society Foundation.
"What's so powerful about this show is that it really does authentically tell stories of current sex workers, of former sex workers, and it's a global perspective," Trentman said. A part of the exhibit includes questions for viewers like why the term sex worker is used instead of prostitute, and why such work shouldn't be a crime.
"One thing that is really important for us as we designed this show [is that] we designed this show to [have] a really large audience," Trentman said. "If you have never really heard about the global sex worker movement or if the issue is new to you...it was absolutely designed for you."
Some artists include Midori, Jacq The Stripper, Kisha Bari, Daniela Pinheiro who photographed pieces from the clothing line DASPU, founded by the late Gabriela Leite of Brazil, Pluma Sumaq, and Molly Crabapple, who has documented the sex work decriminalization movement in New York City in various drawings on DecrimNY.
A 15-foot sculpture of bondage ropes and other items that Midori collected from sex workers is a centerpiece at the exhibition. Midori draws on the Buddhist and Shinto festival called Hari-Kuyo, in which a ceremony is held for objects related to their work that hold importance for people (historically, needles used for garments). The sculpture, InVocation, is built with items collected from about 70 people who identify as sex workers—like bondage ropes, an earring, a belt, and even a keyboard from an erotic writer.
"It simultaneously personalizes and humanizes [sex work], but at the same time looks at this as a job that people have done," Midori told Gothamist. The piece is "simultaneously narrowing down to the super individual but also taking an aerial view at a broader population movement."
"If it sparks a conversation for anyone, great. If they just got wowed by the scale of it, great," Midori added.
More than 50 works including sculptures, installations, photography, drawings, and paintings will be on display March 10th through 16th, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 9 West Eighth Street. Various panels will be held this week, with a town hall led by former Queens District Attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán on Sunday.
This article has been updated to indicate the clothing pieces from DASPU were photographed.
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