Exhibition Review: Sex Work Is The Least Interesting Thing About Me
Words: Kitt Turner
East London’s Valentine’s Day gift this year was the opening party for Sex Work Is The Least Interesting Thing About Me, a new exhibition of sex worker artists at the Bath House in Hackney Wick. Running from 13th February until 8th March, the show brings together photography, sculpture, videos, textile pieces and more to showcase the creative, multidisciplinary talents of fifteen artists who have lived experience of sex work.
The exhibition was devised by Sevvven and Ada Vicious, with the intention to explore the multiplicity of identity, stigma, social perception, personhood, labour politics, and the simultaneous hypervisibility and erasure of s*x workers, while also refusing the idea that any single form of labour can define a whole life.
The aesthetic of the exhibition ranges from gritty and DIY to high-femme gloss; there’s a deep sense of self-awareness in many pieces, and frequently there’s a dissection of the male gaze. Chinese Touch by Lena Chen is a video and essay that examines the Western male perception of East Asian sex workers, exploring themes of authenticity and agency, and asking what it means to take pleasure from being objectified.
For me, one of the most impactful pieces was Lola Tarte’s Shadow Work, a series of hand-sculpted metal forms which cast shadows against the wall that were reminiscent of ancient sigils; abstract and folkloric. I also loved Ruin Klarity’s Night Terror; Stuck And Holding On, which combined a loom displaying delicately hand-woven textiles with writing and an audio recording, evoking forgotten forms of feminised labour and contrasting this with stories of criminalised workers in Berlin.
Maddie Adore’s photographic piece, Origin of a Queer Whore, explores digital censorship and the policing of sex workers both online and offline; a theme which echoes across the exhibition. Pieces like Finn Darrell’s Maxwell, and Emily Guitar’s Erin lovingly depict their subjects in portraits which are at once tender, erotic, and bold. None of these artists are shrinking themselves, their art practice, or their identities, even in the face of an increasingly hostile landscape for sex workers. It was a rare pleasure to wander and spend time with such a varied selection of artworks from our community, but I would recommend this exhibition to everyone, whether workers or allies.
The exhibition shares space at the Bath House with a popular community sauna; this led to a steady stream of sweaty, confused wellness-bros making their way through the Pleasers and sensual, kinky photography, while sipping their electrolytes. I spotted one of the Hackney sauna guys looking around and frowning while arguing with his girlfriend; I couldn’t make out the details, but I surmised that he didn’t approve of what he saw. Too bad for him, because the rest of us loved it.
Quotes from artists
When legislation criminalises and pushes people into secrecy, it shapes identity. For my piece, I drew from who I was beyond the work. Beyond what I performed and embodied for clients.
Ruin Klarity, Night Terror; Stuck And Holding On
In Chinese Touch, I am less interested in critiquing Western hegemony and cultural assimilation than I am in confronting the taboo desire to consume (the cum of white men) and to be consumed (by white men as an image). I also cannot deny the pleasure within such a performance, the pleasure of being forever exotic and unknowable, the pleasure of striving for an authenticity which can never be attained, and the pleasure in the powerful act of enrapturing the very people who will never quite comprehend who you are, even if they learn how to replicate your recipes.
Lena Chen, Chinese Touch
Kitt is a writer and organiser with SWARM and the Sex Workers Union, they can be found at instagram.com/turnerkitt