SWoA 2020 Exhibition | Sex Workers Aotearoa

Sex Workers of Aotearoa: A day in the life of

July 25th to August 12th

Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland

THIS EXHIBITION HAS NOW PASSED

For 2020 we’re bringing this years exhibition to Auckland, hosted by the enthusiastic team at the Depot Artspace in Devonport. I implore you to take this opportunity to experience sex work as portrayed by sex workers themselves.

No two artists interpreted “a day in the life of” in the same way, and each artwork is a unique representation. Through a range of mediums, as diverse as the community itself, the nuances of sex work will be explored, as we ask the public to come behind the smokescreens, to listen to sex workers’ lives, and to see what happens when the ‘muses’ become the artists.

THIS EXHIBITION HAS NOW PASSED.

Read on for articles and videos about the 2020 exhibition

Click here to see the winners of the People's Choice awards
Click here to read the public feedback about the exhibition

In Review

by The Indian News

Fighting stigma and stereotypes: All Day, Every Day

The ongoing exhibition at Depot Artspace in Auckland, Sex Workers of Aotearoa – a day in the life of, is unique in every possible sense. While challenging the beliefs, the stigma and the stereotypes that surround New Zealand’s sex industry, it is also a behind-the-curtain into an industry still fighting for mainstream space, almost 17 years after the Prostitution Reform Act was passed in 2003, which decriminalised sex work in Aotearoa New Zealand.....

by Dani Molloy

The Artist and the Sex Worker

Despite working in the world’s oldest profession, sex workers have scarcely had the chance to share their own experiences of the job.

In their art exhibition Sex Workers of Aotearoa: a day in the life of, Wellington-based sex workers Jordan Quinn and Addison Lane want to break down the stigma surrounding sex work by giving sex workers the opportunity to showcase artwork that they feel represents their daily experiences....

by Jordan Quinn

Challenging Perceptions one Artwork at a Time

Sex Work; an industry most often illuminated by media clickbait and sensationalist headlines. We’re represented by questionable TV characters and victims in Hollywood movies. Our existence has shaped history and we’ve been the muses behind infamous artworks. But how much do you know about the profession beyond the stereotypes? Maybe you know a friend of a friend who’s a sex worker, or maybe you’re secretly, perhaps even openly, one yourself....