From Do You Know What I Mean

“People always think these things happen in back alleys at night, and that’s not always the case,” says Art Gallery of Calgary senior curator Marianne Elder. The “things” Elder is referring to are the activities of the sex trade. And the exhibit currently on at the gallery is meant to shed some exposure on just that.

“It’s a research project where these women were given cameras and asked to take photos and create texts to give a voice to themselves and their experiences,” says Elder.

The University of Calgary’s faculty of social work and the United Way are behind the project. Titled Do You Know What I Mean: The Lived Experience of Sex Trade Workers, the exhibition consists of 25 photos taken by five former sex-trade workers, accompanied by text. “The biggest thing the faculty and the United Way were trying to do was to have a dialogue with the community about what sex trade is in the city,” says Elder.

The exhibit first opened in June in City Hall but was shut down almost immediately. According to press reports, city officials commented it was “partly” due to public complaints that some of the material was not suitable to children. One might think, given this concern, that the images are very sexy and salacious. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

“It’s not what you’d immediately expect. They’re very beautiful, poignant, stripped-down images,” says Elder, noting that some are of flowers and children. One particularly poignant photograph is a close-up of a note tacked on the corner of a bulletin board that says, “Dear Mom, I love you, you are cool.”

“The thing that really touches me about this exhibition is these five women have really opened themselves up in order to convey an experience in hopes that people will have a different consciousness about what it means to be in the sex trade,” Elder says. “This exhibit is as much about gender as it is the sex trade. As women we can look at these images and can find a lot familiar within them.”

Another image shows the interior of a bathroom drawer filled with nail polish, shampoo, toothpaste, eyeshadow and other assorted beauty products. It’s something all women can relate to. The text accompanying the photo explains how the woman to whom those products belongs gained 50 pounds after leaving the sex trade, no longer feels the desire to get fixed up and shies away from any male attention. Knowing that the people behind the lens all used to work in the sex trade is what gives the exhibit its context and makes it something beyond a collection of images.

Another photo is of a few pennies on concrete. The image in itself could be open to a wide variety of interpretations, but reading the accompanying text gives it its poignancy. It speaks of a woman on the street that some young men would drive by, hurl insults at, and throw pennies at her feet. This is one of the images that, according to Elder, caused some controversy because the word “whore” is used in the text. A video presentation also accompanies the exhibit, during which the former sex trade workers share some of their stories.

Perhaps the most touching feature of the entire exhibit is the comment book in which people can write down their reactions to the exhibit. “I was raped,” writes a woman, who goes on to explain her appreciation to these women for sharing their stories.