‘How Not to Photograph Sex Workers’ - Andy Day (fStoppers)

21 Sept

Focused around two photographic projects in which the subject is sex workers.

Namely the 2014 book ‘The Waiting Game’ by Txema Salvans a Spanish photographer and the 2020 Henry/Bragg project ‘Abscence of Evidence’.

Salvans project is a series of 5x4 photographs, made over eight years, of sex workers waiting besides Catalan roads.
The images are made with a wide angle view which isolates and minimises the subject within their environment. Salvans describes the approach as focusing on “the context of prostitution and not on the women”. Despite this approach his claim of aiming to “protect their privacy” fails as they are clearly identifiable.

Day describes the series as “beautiful and compelling” but does highlight the issues as “darkly exploitative”. This is in no doubt due to the execution of the project by Salvans. The origins of the project are based in the commission of an assignment for ‘El Mundo’ during which the sex workers asked not to be photographed and rather than respecting those wishes Salvans “disguised himself as a road surveyor complete with a high visibility jacket and an assistant holding a pole.” Salvans himself is quoted as saying “I kind of lied to the women”.

The issues continue to build with Salvans project as “in Spain it is illegal to photograph someone on the street without their permission if they are recognisable”.

Day, by highlight these issues show how not only was Salvans execution illegal but it also disregards the direct wishes of the subjects, individuals who as highlighted by Marisa Soleto are already vulnerable as “prostitution is not a job, it’s a submission of women into slavery”.

The forward for the book was written by Martin Parr, a contribution which furthers highlights the issues with this covert approach, a fact Parr celebrates as “cunning deception” and in which he goes on to describe the subjects as prostitutes despite it being accepted that the contemporary description of ‘sex worker’ is more considerate of the portrayal of the individual. Parr himself also being the centre of several controversial projects and methods previously including the editing of an alleged racist photo book.

Day here offers a counter approach in the work of Henry/Bragg and their project “Absence of Evidence”.

This projects is a series of images depicting the locations of the murder of sex workers accompanied by a contextual caption. The project was enable through the collaboration with a group of former sex workers who were provided with cameras to photograph the scenes from their own perspective, an act which Henry/Bragg claim helped create distance between the events and the personal experience which helped those involved overcome their past.

The comparison between the projects is clear, they share a subject matter, but here Henry/Bragg are placing the control in the hands of their subjects and considering their experiences with empathy.

When Day contacted Salvans regarding the concerns surrounding the project, Salvans insisted on the journalistic value of the series and the way the images portray the subjects as “women rather than as prostitute”. Two values that the different portraits share, but as Day alludes to, Salvans talks of those values whereas Henry/Bragg display them.

Day notes that “Salvans project could have presented it’s subjects without deceive in and exploiting them.” A view which I share with Day. The approach to investigating, discussing or presenting a project on such a complex and potentially harmful environment and social issue can have long lasting repercussions for those depicted, either through future association with a past they wish to forget or through being identified as a potential ‘victim’ to harm from bad actors.

Salvans disregard for these long lasting effects of his project is indicative of his motivations, motivations which Henry/Bragg do not share. The ‘victims’ of illicit control should not be subjected to further exploitation even in the name of journalism or representation in their own interests.

I do however feel that a project can fall foul of abstraction or obfuscation through the desire to distance the image far from the subject matter and it’s direct effect on individuals.

Whilst Henry/Bragg have created a series of images which empower those involved, for the outside spectator there is almost a sense that the images only really inform those who are ‘in the know’. This could be a result of the method of presentation, large billboards on public roads, the full series may be more accessible to outsiders.

Where Henry/Bragg’s project is one of considered distance, Salvans is impactful in its direct immediacy. An immediacy which is no doubt due to the method of creation, but one which could have been achieved through a more collaborative approach.

Overall I appreciate the concern of Henry/Bragg but their concern has somewhat neutered the effect of the project however that is no excuse for the exploitative methods adopted by Salvans, despite the more effective outcome, as Salvans has in effect become no better than those who control the individuals he depicts.