July 13, 2007
Love You Long Time?
The artists in We, Asian Sex Workers want to make it clear that they are not slaves or victims. They don't need to be "saved," but they would like some respect, or at the very least, sensitivity.
As part of the fifth annual San Francisco Sex Worker Festival, curator Gennifer Hirano and artists Sarah Mac, Mariko Passion, Reagan Louie, Tracy Quan, Annie Chen, Surgeon Scofflaw, The Girls of Banteay Srei (Oakland, CA), and Ivy from Young Women's Empowerment Project (Chicago) have put together a titillating group visual and performance art show at Ar+space Gallery with works based on each of their personal experiences in the world of Asian sex work. The show aims to educate San Francisco about the common misconceptions of the Asian sex worker industry while "deconstructing the lines between the public and private."
The show starts tomorrow and runs through July 22, with a whole slew of various events taking place each night. The gallery will be open during "Red Light Late Night" hours (until at least 11 pm) July 14, 15, 16, 18, and 20, and by appointment on the alternating dates. If you buy a piece of artwork or an "artifact" by artists Mariko Passion, Surgeon Scofflaw, and Annie Chen, you will be privy to a unique, private, conceptual performance in a booth inside the gallery.
Here's a synopsis of the late-night gallery performances
- Sat, July 14: Asian Prostitute Sensivity Training performance, aka a "John Field Trip," starts at 6:30 pm
- Sun, July 15: Opening event and fundraiser, $20 entry, starts at 8 pm, DJ Anasia and dancing
- Mon, July 16: Buy art until 11 pm
- Wed, Jul 18: Im/migrant Issues presentation
- Frid, July 20: "Star Whores," film/video mini-fest
- Sun, July 22: Closing Reception from Noon to 4 pm
Photo by Reagan Louie
We, Asian Sex Workers | July 14-22 | Ar+space Gallery | 1286 Folsom Street at 9th
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I'm sure the Asian sex workers putting on the show are nice people and all; but how can they so easily dismiss and tell people to ignore the human trafficking allegations that the Chron came up with (and that you referred to in the first paragraph of this post?)
can i take my asian wife?
Their press release said the art show was a direct response to those Chron articles, and they linked directly to them.
I don't think they dismiss the human trafficking issue, but there point is that not all Asian prostitutes can be lumped into one category, where they're all viewed as oppressed and submissive.
They will be addressing those misconceptions at the show.
Great to promote this event but tremendously obnoxious to use the awful quote from Full Metal Jacket (which is generally catcalled to women of Asian descent all the time, in a very racist way.) Surely SFist could have come up with a more respectful title.
Well, once again, I was taking the lead from the artists with regard to the title.
From their description of the Asian Prostitute Sensitivity Training workshop tomorrow:
Since their statement was in the form of a question, I changed the title accordingly.
I think the title was quite funny. Dude, everything here is tongue-in-cheek.
Not as clever as 'These colors don't run', though.