"Behind the Curtain: Photographs of the Sex Industry by Ans Westra"
2001-09-21 until 2001-10-26
City Gallery Wellington, 360-Michael Hirschfeld Gallery
Wellington, , NZ

Ans Westra is one of New Zealand’s most significant documentary photographers whose work was brought into the public eye in 1964 with the Department of Education’s publication Washday at the Pa in which Westra photographed an East Coast Maori family living in rural poverty. Since then she has continued to explore aspects of New Zealand society which many people would prefer to ignore.

The series of 38 black and white photographs depict sex workers in massage parlours, strip-clubs and a brothel as the women wait for clients, dress, socialise or strip. A challenging exploration into the daily lives of these women, Behind the Curtain does not rely on nudity or the depiction of sex acts to provoke a quick response. Rather as Westra puts it, the series shows us ‘the ordinariness of much that goes on behind the curtain. The women told me many stories while I photographed, mostly about survival … Perhaps the photographs will allow you to get to know them a little, as I was privileged to.’

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