The Angel of Santa Fe : Barcu Biennale

Oct 21

Last week marked the launch of the 2020 Colombian Biennale, Barcú. I was invited by Gallery Nuance to collaborate with Fundación Vida Nueva, which translates as “Foundation for New Life.” This charity offers women in Colombia the opportunity to leave sex work, and as a continuation of my “Faces of Employment” series, I created a portrait of the brave women currently working with the foundation to better their lives.

These people face stigmatisation, and as a result they are exposed to pervasive human rights abuses such as sexual-slavery, commercial exploitation, trafficking, and paedophilic sex tourism. They are referred to as being “in the condition of sex work“, as opposed to sex workers, because it is recognised that this is a temporary occupation, and it does not define who they are.

There are predicted to be over 7000 people in the condition of sex work in Colombia, and the vast majority are forced into this line of work due to a lack of options. The participants in this project are working their way out of this situation and bravely agreed to submit their faces to create this archetype.

The work is named “The Angel of Santa Fe,“ reflecting the pure and etherial nature of the portrait, but also referring to the prostitution red-zone in Bogotá, which shares the name. The sales proceeds of this 1x2m printed and framed portrait will be donated to Fundación Vida Nueva. Follow the link to enter the virtual gallery experience:

https://virtual.barcu.com/user/XKaie7oV7eXMDdzCSpcTh5PJIgX2/space/Tv7if1aZoBCTf184V0A4

Contact Gallery Nuance for sales information: galerianuance@collab.com.co

“Fe“ means hope, and our aim is to help more people escape the abuses of this industry with this artwork.

Many thanks to Jack Greenhalgh for the vision engineering and Gallery Nuance for the opportunity to collaborate.