The Industry

Allow me to take you back...

To a time when women would stand outside theaters at night waiting for men to sell their "product" to. A place where women fell into the industry of selling their bodies for a variety of reasons, a large one being poverty. While I do not pretend to be a history expert, my research has revealed to me that the sex work industry has always held a dichotomy of glamour on the outside and darkness beneath the surface. Often referred to as "the world's oldest profession", prostitution was, and still is, found in every corner of the world.

Flash forward to today - exchanging sex for money is illegal in many places. So, instead of standing outside of theaters, many women (and men) have found other ways of delivering their "product" to the general population. When you picture modern-day sex work, you probably think of strip clubs and cheap motels: while these things certainly coincide with the sex work industry today, many people tend to look at them through a negative lens. "The concept of sex work [is] intrinsically connected to the concept of masculinity", according to ladyscience.com, but while masculinity is revered, sex work is looked down upon.

Enter rachel

Rachel Strickland, aerialist and owner of The Audacity Project, approached me with a concept for a collaboration. She presented me with a different side to the story: how performers connect to the sex work industry. Rachel has been a performer for many years, and her current specialty is the aerial hoop (also referred to as a lyra). She went on to describe to me many long nights and grueling hours of performance and preparation, often for very little monetary compensation. She puts her body through rigorous physical trials, all for the viewing pleasure of the public.

Her concept was this: using imagery reminiscent of 18th century harlots, she wanted to represent the overlap between sex work and the performing arts. I was immediately sold.

caught in the act

As shoot day approached, Rachel brought on several other inspiring women who have all at one point or another been involved in the performing arts. Learning the stories of these women was inspiring and empowering, and I was so excited to shoot with them.

On the day of the shoot, the energy was infectious. Everyone was so passionate about this project and took it incredibly seriously (our chosen Spotify playlist for the evening, "shaketh thy bottom", certainly helped). Once we started shooting, everything became so effortless. We all worked so well together and everyone was providing incredible input and suggestions. I could feel the bond that these women intrinsically had with each other, purely from their shared passions of performance. It certainly fueled my creative spark.

A story to tell

I am so thankful for these women for allowing me to tell their story. It truly means the most to me when I get to work with people who share my same creative passions.

You may be wondering: how do these images reflect modern performance? The "18th-century-harlot" aspect is blatantly obvious, but you will only see the layers if you give it some time and look closely. Play a little "I Spy" and see what Easter eggs you can find! These are not the absolute final images - they’ve been sent off to a photoshop guru to add a few more elements of darkness - but they’re certainly close. We also worked to show that dichotomy I mentioned earlier: glamorous and beautiful on the outside, but if you look underneath, you will see some of the darkness that lives within The Industry.

If you'd like to see more images and learn about some of the behind-the-scenes, I highly recommend you subscribe to Rachel's Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/rachelstricklandcreative.