project

Veiled and enveloping

by Elisabeth Wieërs
tutors
Nancy Couling
Trudi Jaeger
location
Bergen, Norway
years
2024
Introduction
  • Layers of covering and uncovering sex workspaces

 

My project is about the place that sex work occupies in a city, with my focus being Bergen. Using a mix of data and testimonies I have been trying to sketch the ‘where’ of sex workers. Within the limitation of the sex purchase act, limited resources and unnuanced social view, sex work in Bergen occupies a grey zone in which sex workers are left with very little or no safe spaces to occupy.

 

Through the lens of sex work, I investigated how legislation expresses itself in space and architecture. I looked into how space and legislation affect each other and how this is (in)visible in the city. I also looked at examples of commercial sex spaces in different cities. This difference in legislation also expresses itself in different rates of visibility of sex workers. This visibility of sex work then again influences legislation and space. Sex work in Bergen occurs in a variety of spaces of different types and sizes. One consistent element is that they are hidden away from those who don’t know where to look. And while the spaces don’t move, the sex workers do. Because of complicated legal and social circumstances many sex workers move from space to space and city to city. In their travel they miss out on spaces that provide consistent support and it makes it difficult to build up a community amongst colleagues.

Full explanation of project audio: 20240813_122743.m4a

Project Documentation