Anja’s reality · detail I · acrylic on wall · 2009

Anja, not her real name, is a sex worker who offers ‘drive-thru’ sex in a designated Zone for sex work. At night, men can legally pick up a sex worker in the Zone, when a daytime two-way street is turned into a one-way circuit around the railway station and the Philips building in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Women may only work here if they have a drug problem and meet regularly with social workers who have an office in the Zone. The office is in a container, which also has showers, condoms and tea-making facilities for the sex workers.

Anja’s reality · detail II · acrylic on wall · 2009

Anja’s reality · detail III · text on wall · 2009

This text-based work presents three realities: “Anja’s”, “the caretakers'” and “my reality” (which serves as the reader’s view). These are printed as text on clear acrylic, or directly on the wall, in a script as if taken from a typed record of interview.

As the viewer stops to read, their silhouette is cast on the work, imposing them directly into the trio of narratives.