Decriminalised Futures at the ICA

Through the works of thirteen international artists, Decriminalised Futures at the ICA sparks an urgent conversation about the multifaceted nature of sex work and the multiple problematic issues it raises. Those who work in this controversial business are often subjected to stigma, poverty, homelessness, exploitation, abuse and invariably face legal problems. The exhibition acts as a platform for open expression and is a rare opportunity for sex workers to vent their concerns, raise awareness and demand the decriminalisation of prostitution.

The material on display brings to light two particular needs that set the tone: firstly, to give a voice to otherwise muted members of society, and secondly, to encourage sex workers to connect and fight as a union rather than allow themselves to be isolated and marginalised as helpless individuals. The show mainly features multimedia installations composed of images, objects, audio recordings and videos. The viewer is encouraged to sit down, get close, and in some cases, put on headphone sets to listen to excerpts from interviews and discussions recorded during the Sex Workers’ Festival of Resistance.

One can hear the reports of women living on the margins flag up a variety of pressing matters, such as the catch-22 of reporting violence to the police, only to be targeted and criminalised themselves. Some lament the lack of first-person narratives in the recorded history of prostitution, which goes back centuries, but rarely places the sex worker’s perspective at its centre. Then there are voices challenging the way sex work is viewed. One woman states: “I’m a Marxist, and Marx starts with the assumption that all work for money is prostitution. You, and your body, and your time, and your skills, and your energies are at the disposal of another person, for money. The name of that is prostitution, and we have all been engaged in that, and we distinguish ourselves as being respectable or not respectable depending on our rate of exploitation.”

The women offering their accounts want to shake up the stagnant views that have solidified over time and that see them as the problem, rather than the laws that limit their freedoms and basic rights. Perhaps the material could have been presented in a more powerful way to match the urgency of the matter, whereas it feels scattered in the spacious rooms it occupies. However, it’s the value of the content itself and the message it conveys that makes this a necessary and worthwhile exhibition.

Mersa Auda

Decriminalised Futures is at ICA from 16^th February until 22^nd May 2022. For further information visit the exhibition’s website here.