The lockdown during the 2020 pandemic posed major challenges for many industries, and sex work was not unaffected. With the photo project ‘Sexwork – Lock Down’, Helena Manhartsberger addressed the impact of the pandemic on sex workers, their working conditions and their strategies for dealing with restrictions. On the basis of reports and very personal interviews with sex workers, operators, customers and activists, including the PiA counselling centre, the artist gained a wide range of insights into the topic, including how to deal with being banned from the profession. The content was supplemented by portraits and pictures taken on location. Helena Manhartsberger was awarded the ‘kunst trotzt gewalt’ prize for this project.
Helena Manhartsberger has provided PiA with some of the photos for this website. Thank you for this generous gesture.