Sex Work Exhibition : Sketchb00k Development

* my first idea was focusing around violence towards sex workers, I wanted to be respectful but not shy away from the fact that violence towards sex workers is horrific and brutal. I researched prominent instances of this and thought about something to do with the people who commit acts of violence against sex workers (the first image being a mugshot of the man who killed a sex worker in Leeds). I decided against this pretty quickly as it focused attention away from the sex workers themselves.

* A bit of research led me to find that a symbol associated with violence against sex workers is a red umbrella, so I wanted to use this as a running theme throughout the pieces. (The exhibition was part of a series of events for the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers)

* I wanted to explore different kinds of sex work, as most people think immediately of prostitution but sex work can include stripping, online cam work, porn etc. and sex workers can be treated violently in any sector of sex work.

* Started sketching out 'scenes' that would include the red umbrella, ranging different kinds of violence, or just scenes of people walking down streets holding a red umbrella.

* I asked a couple of people about their views on how to depict the violence, as  didn't want to just draw it happening & I wanted to keep things respectful. These people said that they believe other sex workers would not want the violence sugar-coated even though it is really violent - to communicate the severity.

* I found a quote from a trial which was " whatever work they did, no one is entitled to do these women any harm, let alone kill them" which I found really powerful as it communicated exactly what I wanted to through the work.