Kirsty Garland

As with most of the images in this series, it is not immediately obvious from the content alone that the female subject is, or was, a sex worker. However, once the viewer is made aware of this fact various connotations are obvious. Despite the fact that the woman appears to be sleeping, the clinical nature of the tiled walls and floors, combined with the crisp, white sheet draped over her are reminiscent of a morgue, hinting at a possible outcome for many of these women. The pink slippers or sandals on the floor are the only personable objects, reminding the viewer of her humanity, regardless of her otherwise sparse surroundings. Her hair and a glimpse of the side of her face are the only context we have for what she looks like, allowing the viewer to project their own opinions onto her – a faceless metaphor for the women who share her plight.

While the innocuous act of sleeping could be intended to show her vulnerability, there are poignant connotations to her previous line of work, and the viewer can almost imagine a client hidden from view behind the line of her body. The image is, in many ways, a contrast between two opposing messages. On the one hand Popa appears to go to pains to show her subject’s humanity and fragility, drawing the viewer’s sympathy for a tangible victim. However the cloaked body and faceless cascade of hair suggest she is one of many statistics, a ghost who slipped through societies net to become a nameless representation of prostitution.

The image highlights how foreign her situation is to the viewer in many ways. We can vaguely imagine what she’s been through, but without having been there ourselves, we are a million miles away from understanding it. This puts a distance between her and the viewer that Popa strives to lesson by depicting her in the simple, human act of sleeping. The small bed, reminiscent of that of a child’s places her currant situation at the other end of the spectrum from prostitution – the innocence of childhood. These two contradicting elements to the image serve to remind the viewer that her profession was not her own choice, and does not reflect any aspect of her personality.

The image is shot in colour, probably largely to depict the reality of the situation in a realistic rather than stylized manner. Despite the muted colours of the sheets and tiles that surround her, the injection of pink in her sandals and highlights of red in her hair allow us to see her femininity, proving that regardless of the traumas she’s suffered, she still retains her own personality and identity.