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The art exhibition striving to destigmatise sex work

‘Absence of Evidence’ is the collaborative outdoor photography project striving to raise awareness about the conditions of sex work while building a safer future for women involved in prostitution. 

A collaborative outdoor photography project between artist duo Henry/Bragg and a group of former sex workers known as ‘Untold Stories’ is striving to elevate the voices of women involved in the industry and transform the narratives around how their work is perceived.

The pop-up exhibition – titled Absence of Evidence – features fourteen images honouring fourteen sex workers who have died since 2014 due to ‘murder, suspected murder, overdose, substance-related health conditions, and the secondary effects of working under on-street conditions.’

Published across four billboards with accompanying images, the project is drawing attention to how rarely cases such as these are investigated and accurately categorised. ‘She had two little boys and it was on a boy’s birthday that she was found,’ reads one of the text fragments alongside an image showing the site of an unseen tragedy. Representing the experience of a woman subject to devastating violence in the city of Hull, UK, the role of art in this story is not merely a means of self-expression.

Four years ago, Hull became the only local authority in England to use a specific law directly targeting sex workers, further marginalising them. In enacting Section 222 of the 1972 Local Government Act, any women found working in restricted areas were threatened with legal action, including prison sentences. This, unfortunately, forced them deeper underground into a highly dangerous working environment that left them more exposed than ever before.

‘They wanted to clean up the city. But rather than looking at the whole problem, they decided that the girls were not allowed to work in that area anymore, without thinking what was going to happen,’ explains Julie Henry. ‘Street sex work is going to go on. They moved to areas where there was no CCTV. There was no one to see if anything happened to the girls. So violence became more common.’

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In an interview with The Guardian, red-light district outreach worker Hailes said that this lack of surveillance prompted a significant chasm between local police and street sex workers in Hull. Lost without any form of help or support, women would avoid reporting any attacks out of fear they’d be arrested, hence the project’s title. ‘Reports of violent and sexually violent crimes reduced during a period when sex workers were frightened to report them,’ adds Hailes. ‘Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.’

The exhibition’s ultimate goal is not only to shine a light on the harrowing realities of sex work, but additionally to shift societal attitudes towards the profession. Untold Voices is hoping that onlookers walk away with the understanding that sex work is too often misunderstood, misrepresented, and stigmatised, in that it ‘isn’t a life choice, but a necessity’ for the women involved.

‘We hope to not just challenge the stigma surrounding multiple disadvantages but to shatter it,’ says Hailes. ‘We must begin the journey of building a safer environment for sex workers in Hull and therefore, everybody.’ Expanding beyond Hull, the exhibition is currently lining the streets of London’s Shoreditch and Soho as a poster campaign, but it’s message is a global one. Take a look here

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