Brighton Photo Fringe opens this weekend
In conjunction with Brighton Photo Biennial, the Photo Fringe also opens in Brighton this weekend.
I shall be exhibiting images from my travels entitled “I could be your daughter: Asian Babes, Bar Girls and Betel Nut Beauties.”
Between January 2008 and September 2009 I travelled extensively in South-East Asia visiting Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore.
Throughout my 21 month journey, I contemplated the role females play in Asian society and particularly their sexualisation and sexploitation. By dressing provocatively are they prostituting themselves to promote products and services? The idea for the book title came to me one afternoon in a Vietnam park when he observed a security guard forcibly beating a girl who was hanging out with a group of alcoholics/homeless people. I don’t know what she’d done to provoke the attack but the inscription on her t-shirt aptly read “I could be your daughter.”
My images will be displayed at the Old Co-op Building, 94-101 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4LB.
22 – 24 Oct and 29 – 31 Oct between 12:00 – 17:00.
We are all Prostitutes
In the west the perception of “prostitution” is still a taboo subject. Ask someone if they use or have used the services of a prostitute and you’ll probably get a guarded response. Prostitution has different guises from those living rough on the streets to fund their drug habits to those working from dingy bedrooms in dodgy areas of town to glamourous, affluent high class escorts living in expensive penthouses. But no matter where or how they ply their trade “prostitutes” in the west are still considered with contempt.
Thailand has had a long association with sex tourism. Estimates for the country as a whole put the number of sex workers at over two million. Males heading to Pattaya for a holiday won’t have chosen it for it’s beaches alone. Walking along Beach Road hundreds of “freelancers” – boys, girls, women, transsexuals line the three kilometre stretch of pavement that runs parallel with the beach. Some wait all day for customers to take them to hotels for “short-time” or a longer encounter. But the majority are women appearing after 6pm as the sun sets and day turns to night. As prostitution in Thailand is illegal, the police will occasionally enforce the law. Literally. In 2007 a police force raided some Pattaya brothels and had sex with the prostitutes. But for most of the time the authorities turn a blind eye. Especially since Thailand has been suffering from political unrest over the past years and tourist numbers have been in decline. After paying a small fine the prostitutes will be back on the beat. As you walk this stretch of pavement over a few days you will recognise familiar faces who frequent a regular patch. There are plenty of smiles. The mood is light hearted. Cries of “Go with you?” “Short-time mis-ter?” There are no pimps or heavy handed hassling. The women appear in control. It is they who are calling the shots. It is their choice if they go with a punter or not.
The beach area is a vibrant meeting area.
In fact if you weren’t aware of what was being offered you might picture an innocent scene. Groups of women sit sharing food, playing games, chatting, interacting with the foreigners/tourists/expats who live there. The majority are not dressed as provocatively as one imagines a “prostitute” to dress. There are a number of plain looking girl-next-door types. The age range varies from those just starting out to those who’ve been on the strip for too long. I can imagine a number of them will decide to head for the seafront if money is tight in their household. One day I passed a woman I regularly saw chatting to her young child and husband who’d stopped by to visit her, obviously aware of her “job”. Prostitution in Thailand doesn’t have the negative social stigma as other countries. Even so other girls aren’t as open with their relatives, as one girl stopped me photographing saying she has family. But for the majority this is not considered a bad way to earn a living especially as they are sending the money to their families. With the average daily wage around £10 per day the prostitutes can earn a similar amount for a short time encounter with a foreigner. A number of the females are from Issan, a rural province in the north-east which is Thailand’s poorest region where the majority of income comes from farming. So the money earnt “going with farang” as the prostitutes name their occupation, is rich pickings and goes a long way to support their families who like the police, ask few questions.
Throughout Pattaya in cafes, bars, restaurants, nightclubs you’ll witness foreigners in the company of a Thai. The sight of a middle-aged, pot bellied man walking the street and seated eating in cafes with a woman a quarter his size and age is a common one. Since American servicemen began visiting Pattaya for R&R during the Vietnam War, the place has had a reputation for being pretty sleazy. Even so, some arrangements can appear distasteful and obscene, especially where underage girls or boys are concerned. Apart from being picked up on the streets, “prostitutes” can be found in nightclubs or in any of the hundreds of bars they work where customers pay a bar fine for the female to leave the premises early. One night I went to an English pub to watch the England vs Croatia World Cup qualifier. When the game kicked off at 2am local time the bar was half full with foreigners and female bar staff of varying age and attractiveness. By the time England were scoring their fifth goal it was difficult to find someone to serve me a drink as most of the staff had left for the night with the customers. This type of behaviour is not considered degrading or frowned upon. It is just openly accepted as a way the women can earn extra money.
Generally, the prostitutes will offer short time sex or “a girlfriend experience” for the duration of a foreigner’s visit. A lot of the women I met are hoping that a short time liaison with a western male will develop into a longer term commitment that will free them and their families from the financial woes and hardship of a developing country. I overheard one “couple” who were obviously involved in a longer term “relationship” discussing their housekeeping arrangement – how much he pays the Thai lady to cook and clean each week but she still constantly made requests that he buy her more clothes and presents. And I began to question whether western attitudes towards prostitution are justified. Is a western woman/girlfriend/wife who is taken out for drinks, dinner by a man/boyfriend/husband and offers him sex at the end of the evening any different from a prostitute who gets paid for it?
Check out more photographs below:
Phuket – Vegetarian Festival
The Vegetarian Festival held in Phuket, Thailand celebrates the Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. It is believed that the festival was bought to Phuket by a wandering Chinese opera group during the nineteenth century who fell ill with an epidemic disease while performing on the island and suffered many fatalities. The following year they adhered to a strict vegetarian diet and prayed to the Nine Emperor Gods who would ensure purification of the mind and body. As there were no fatalities that year the people decided that not eating meat, having sex, telling lies, killing each other and being generally naughty was probably a good thing and celebrated by staging a festival. The festival celebrations honouring the gods and expressing the people’s happiness at surviving a fatal illness has been staged every year since.
Over nine days in October each year various ceremonies are held to invoke the gods. Firewalking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification undertaken by participants acting as mediums of the gods have become more spectacular and daring each year. Men and women puncture their faces and tongues with various items including knives, skewers and other household items believing the Chinese gods will protect them from harm. As the photographs show it is a spectacular but gruesome festival. And certainly not for the faint hearted.
I rose before sunrise on successive days anxious to be at the Temples as the participants downed a special brew and began to be possessed by the Gods before offering themselves to selected “doctors” armed with long sharp skewers. 
Apparently the participants feel no pain, no doubt due to the intoxicants they’re under. At times it was difficult to photograph alongside the jostling locals and other foreigners who were frantically trying to capture the latest piercings in graphic detail on camera.
One morning I had my wallet lifted from my pocket in a crowded area. Instinctively I reacted and grabbed the nearest guy who looked at me blankly as I quizzed him and frisked his pockets but they were empty. I stood forlorn contemplating the hassles of phoning banks back home to cancel credit cards, but some locals pointed to the ground where my wallet was lying. The guy had obviously discarded my wallet as I’d grabbed him, with my credit cards still inside. Fortunately the Gods were on my side that day. I instantly refrained from eating meat, having sex and being generally naughty.
Please see further images below:
Burma – Should I stay or Should I go?
I first went to Burma or Myanmar in 1988. At the time I visited there was a series of marches and riots that became known as the “People Power Uprising.” Thousands of monks, students and locals demonstrating against the regime were killed and the uprising led to the country being ruled by the military. Although Aung San Suu Kyi won an election for the National League for Democracy party in 1990, the results weren’t recognised by the military junta and to this day she remains under house arrest. My memories of visiting Burma then were feelings of suppression. I had no idea what the people were going through as there were nightly curfews and nobody discussed what was happening to their compatriots. But to the outsider the people seemed happy enough so you wouldn’t have guessed that there were problems.
In 2009 I returned to Burma for the second time. I’ve read many articles over the years arguing the ethical dilemma whether tourists should visit Burma or not as going there only lines the pockets of the military rulers and doesn’t assist the local people. Well I disagree. I went for a month travelling all over the country. I stayed in local Guest Houses avoiding the Government run institutions. I mainly travelled on public transport such as buses which meant getting up at 4am to get a seat and pick up trucks sharing the rear with multiple sacks of plant fertiliser, thus avoiding the trains and air companies also Government run. I ate from food stalls or cheap restaurants. It was a marathon task that knackered me out and starved me of home comforts, decent food and frequent power cuts but well worth it for four weeks considering the human rights issues the Burmese people have been subjected to and endure daily. Yes, some of the money I spent will no doubt end up supporting the powers to be, but at least I was trying my best to support the local people.
And what a joy the people are. Everywhere I went there was hearty welcomes and big smiles. Forget Thailand, marketed as “the land of smiles” who are positively moody in comparison with the Burmese. I don’t know another country where visitors receive the same welcome. So has the country changed in 20 years? Still suppressed? Maybe. But still smiling. People were more wanting to converse with me in public this time around, with one young cafe owner wanting to talk politics. But I stopped him. I advised him to be careful of who might be eavesdropping. Better safe than sorry. And the government are obviously encouraging more tourism as they’ve 
opened up the visiting regulations. Whereas in 1988 I was granted a 7 day visa and could only visit the three main areas of Rangoon, Mandalay and Pagan – a monthly visa is now standard issue – there are still restricted areas, but generally the country has developed pretty slowly in comparison with the advanced Asian countries it borders. You won’t find a Starbucks or McDonalds, the roads and infrastructure are somewhat potholed and the internet and cable TV connections are pretty erratic but the people are the real draw. If you can live with a few hardships and fancy seeing a third world Asian country that is unique and has retained a village like charm for the past twenty years, then tourists shouldn’t think twice about visiting this enchanting place.
Please check out some images below:
Taiwan – Betel Nut Beauties
After spending 5 months in Japan in 2008 I travelled to Taiwan. Originally I'd planned to catch a boat there but after realising I was travelling with too much heavy baggage I decided to fly instead. Not many people travel around Taiwan. It's not really on the radar of must see destinations. I met a couple of British expats working in Tainan who asked me what brought me to this country. "It was a stepping stone between Japan and China," was my reply, althoughly my real reason was that it was home to "Betel Nut Beauties."
From a distance you'd consider that a scantily clad female sitting alone in a glass booth at the side of the road was some sort of salacious honey trap. However as you draw closer or even step inside you'll find that the young lady is preparing a betel nut wrapped in a leaf that is a mild stimulant and chewed widely across Asia. However Taiwan appears to be the only nation in Asia where thousands of girls throughout the country prepare the betel nuts dressed in as few clothes as possible to attract more buyers and achieve better sales.
Doctors have researched patients with oral cancer and found that 80% were linked to chewing betel nut. The government turn a blind eye apart from occasionally telling the girls to cover up. Naturally it isn't the girls in the booths calling the shots. After I'd lingered for too long with my camera outside a row of shops not far from the international airport at Taipei a couple of men suddenly appeared and asked me to stop photographing. Although they've been operational since the 1990's only recently have they started getting increased foreign attention due to being featured in the latest Lonely Planet guide with coach loads of camera wielding Japanese tourists adding the beauties to their scenic views. Not the sort of tourist attraction that the authorities want to be known for. Whether the girls provide any further services is debatable. But the salary they earn at three times more than the national wage for sitting in a glass booth all day as drivers pass ogling salaciously is enough of an incentive for them to strip for their job.
Check out the slideshow below:
Travel Photography by Philip J. Bigg 