Short Summary
We need your help to bring this project to it's final stages. Projects about sex work made by sex workers are not traditionally funded. We have been turned town by several funders, citing that this project "conflicts with our mission and values." We are committed to creating spaces for sex workers to disseminate their own knowledge, stories and art. We are now turning to our communities and social circles to help make this happen. We hope that when We're Still Working project is a wild success, this will show more traditional funders that supporting sex workers is a necessary an important community investment.
Sex work has a long and beautiful history of fighting for justice, visibility and respect, while working in solidarity with other movements of our time. Sex workers have played an important role in shaping the world we live in today - from Stonewall in New York to the Compton Cafeteria uprising in the Tenderloin here in San Francisco. However, the sex worker is often distorted or erased in the final accounts of their histories by news media, cinema and history books. This project recognizes workers and our intersecting communities as an important part of the San Francisco Bay Area, and honors sexual labor as an integral part of its history and artistic legacy. This visual art exhibit provides a platform for the brush, the camera, the mic, the sequins and sweat to insist that sex work is not only work, but also can be art. This visual art exhibition was recently awarded a Curatorial Residency at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. The exhibition will be on view in SOMArts’ Main Gallery from January 26–February 25, 2017.
We strongly believe that placing sex workers at the center of our own narrative is one of the best ways to fight for sex worker justice. We have partnered with the St. James Infirmary, El/La Para Trans Latinas, and LYRIC LGBTQ Youth Center to bring you a gallery full of brilliant, impactful artwork made by sex workers. Our goal is to addresses the complexities of sex work in a way that does not further perpetuate negative stereotypes, damaging rhetoric, the over-glamorization or simplification of the trade. We are not outsiders examining the sex worker community, but insiders with art to share. Art is a form of activism, and we are committed to creating this opportunity for sex workers to share our stories through artistic outlets at SOMArts Main Gallery this January.
Participating Artists:
Curated By:
- Maxine Holloway
- Javier Luis Hurtado
- River Black
In conjunction with:
What We Need & What You Get
We need $6000 more dollars to give this project life. Our sex worker artists and community partners have been woking tremendously hard over the past few months to create truly unique collection of art work and events that fight for sex worker justice, are though provoking, and are beautiful. SOMArts Cultural Center has provided a great foundation for this show to come to life. Now we just need a final financial push to present this project in the way that it deserves.
- $2000 of these funds will be going to raise the artists & performer stipend for each participating artist. Supporting our artists who are sharing their complex struggles and triumphs of being a sex worker within a culture that stigmatizes us, is our number one priority.
- $500 will go towards organizing our sex worker health panel with LYRIC LGBTQ Youth Center
- $500 will go to the Failed Films Presents: #FuckYouPayMe, sex workers & film night
- $1500 will go to artwork shipping and installation.
- $1500 to compensate the three main curators for producing this project.
- $300 to offset the fee taken by indiegogo
*any additional funds raised will go directly to the artists, then curators.
Please Share this campaign far & wide!
Even if you are unable to give at this time, please share this campaign to let our communities know about this show happening January 26 - Feb 25!
We hope to celebrate with you all at the Opening Reception: January 26, 2017 6-9p
