Jack Picone --"Sex Work" # 21
© Photograph by Jack Picone
A sex worker in-between clients. Mae Sot, Thailand.
A sex worker in-between clients. Mae Sot, Thailand.
Beautiful and tragic. An incredible photograph.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the feedback, Lesly. It is probably useful to have some additional context for this photograph. Here is a little:
ReplyDeleteShe is a Burmese sex worker and works in a small Chinese -Thai owned brothel in a small border town called Mae Sot, Thailand. It was bleak. She earns a little under $US5 per session and sends most of her money back to her family and young child in Burma. Like many sex workers she said she didn't feel shame about what she was doing to make a living. Of course she wished that she didn't have to do it. She was happy to share her story with me. The photograph was part of a project that I did on HIV and Aids on off over an eight-year period in various countries in the South-East Asian region. It was for a foundation in London called The Terence Higgins Trust. The project was called 'Postive Lives.' The project was rooted in giving a voice to people living with HIV and to counter stigmatization people with HIV incurred. Also, Positive Lives promoted safe sex and awareness about the virus in general.
Thanks for the context, Jack. How wonderful to have a profession that provides the opportunity to visit such places and talk to people.
ReplyDeletebetween clients
ReplyDeletelet me collect my thoughts
this life sucks
Yes, it can be bleak Rob. I often remind myself how fortunate I am to be born where I was born.
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