Human Negotiations

Leaving aside stereotypes of exploited, downtrodden Third World females coerced into a profession in which they are passive victims, Human Negotiations reveals a more nuanced, open-ended world where women take centre stage, and where reality’s complexities leave room for wider interpretations. Collaboration between photographer Katharina Hesse and writer Lara Day, the project uses both images and text to deal directly with the perception of women, in particular, sex workers in Southeast Asia.

Human Negotiations is a photographic art project that explores the lives of prostitutes living and working in Bangkok, Thailand. The project focuses specifically on subjects who have not been coerced into their jobs, but who choose work in the sex industry as a means towards a better life: a mother supporting a child, a student paying off a college loan, a ladyboy saving up for cosmetic surgery, a woman living the lifestyle to enable her own freedom and independence.

Organisation: City of Women; In collaboration with: Škuc Gallery; Archives of the Republic of Slovenia.