Objects of Desire - Berlin 2019
Objects of Desire is a collective of sex workers, artists and researchers.
We collect, exhibit and archive sex worker’s stories through objects. In 2019, we designed the second exhibition, after a show in London, at the national queer museum Schwules Museum Berlin.
The artefacts of the exhibition were collected through ethnographically informed interviews over a period of 18 months in Berlin. The objects range from the mundane to the bizarre, from a hand painted tea light given by a client to a bicycle used to ride to work whilst wearing heels, to a butt tunnel. Through focusing on the personal stories of sex workers and the physical objects involved, we aim to facilitate an understanding of the everyday practice of sex work as work.
Accompanying the archival collection, we presented a series of works created by artists who are also sex workers. Responding to an open call artists presented creative interpretations of the lived material dimensions of sex work inspired by the objects, themes and stories of the archival collection. The pieces range from a performance exploring fetishisation of national identity, to a fully immersive astrological workspace, as well as sculpture, music, video and photography. A series of events, exhibition tours and workshops accompanied the exhibition.
As an artist and member of the collective, I co-curated the exhibition, conducted interviews, and created the workshop „Layers of Intimacy“. I have been continuously involved in organizing community events in Berlin, such as the 2018 and 2019 International Whores Day Parties and Parade.
