Sex Workers Tell Their Stories Through Art

Navigating Sex Work Spaces: COVID-19 and Beyond is a research project that gives sex workers a chance to share their experiences of navigating the pandemic through art.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, supports were put in place to help people navigate the new challenges they faced. But few supports met the needs of sex workers who faced day-to-day barriers that were amplified by the pandemic.

“Sex work is a low-barrier way to have meaningful income,” says Jennie Pearson, a research assistant at Navigating Sex Work Spaces: COVID-19 and Beyond. “But in the context of a pandemic, when you have to isolate and cannot do in-person work, it takes away that income source completely.”

Sex workers were ineligible for government financial support. On top of this, organizations that supported sex workers reduced services or shut down spaces when the pandemic began. “There was this very sudden reduction in options for lots of folks,” says Pearson.

Noticing this, the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity (CGSHE) and PACE Society collaborated on a participatory research project that would highlight the intersections between how sex work is criminalized, COVID-19, and the opioid epidemic, all while giving sex workers the chance to share their experiences. PACE Society is a non-profit run by, and serves, sex workers. This project was funded through Vancouver Foundation’s Participatory Action Research grant program.

Unearthing Stories Through Art

Ali Alsharhanee, a mental health counsellor at PACE, noticed that many members accessing services at PACE had some sort of interest in art. He was originally planning an art therapy workshop for members when the idea for the research project came across his desk.

“What I see most of our members suffer from is isolation and lack of opportunities for self-expression,” says Alsharhanee. Navigating Sex Work Spaces aims to create space for sex workers to express themselves in creative ways, especially those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other barriers, such as criminalization of sex work and the overdose crisis. Alsharhanee believes it’s an opportunity that will reap great mental health benefits.

“We thought we’d go big and allow folks to choose whatever type of art medium they feel connected to, or want to try out,” says Pearson. The project is intended to be accessible to all, whether or not participants have an arts background. But it offers opportunities for skill-building and growth for those who want it, including mentorship from two artists-in-residence.

Once participants create their art, they’re invited to talk about their process and the message behind their artworks. “We hope that will invoke lots of rich ideas and allow people to kind of ease into how they want to share their story,” says Pearson. At the end of the project, the art will be shared in a public exhibit at a community art gallery.

“The main objective is to make people feel things, or have thoughts, when they are exposed to the experiences or messages in the art,” says Alessa Marfan, an artist and member of the project’s community advisory team. “For me it’s not about giving them one kind of message—whatever they might interpret is welcome.”

In Marfan’s art project, she approached her story from a client’s perspective. She emphasizes that not all sex workers’ narratives and experiences look the same. “This project is necessary to tell different stories, in different perspectives. It’s kind of cathartic, or therapeutic.”

“We are like you.”

For Marfan, the project creates awareness about sex work among people who may be less familiar with it or harbour misconceptions. “We are like you,” says Marfan. “It’s sensitivity or empathy that we need to create, because there’s still a lot of stigma.”

Alsharhanee hopes participants can process trauma through art, build connections and know they are not alone. “We want to highlight that they are valued, what they are doing is valued, and they are important to society.”

“Long-term, we hope this project might influence policy change that will allow for sex workers to enact all the health and safety rights and protections that other workers are afforded,” says Pearson. “We hope it will inform meaningful consultation with sex workers when it comes to policies, with the ultimate goal of full decriminalization.”

Story written by Tanvi Bhatia.