Strippers

Our culture is hypocritical in many ways. Sex is used to sell products, get jobs and find mates but it is rarely addressed in a direct and honest way. The sex industry represents a significant portion of the world’s economy. In many countries, it operates in a grey area between legality and illegality. In the UK, it is worth an estimated £1bn and there are many thousands more women working illegally as prostitutes on Britain’s streets or in brothels across the country. The line between journalism and voyeurism is also thin, but for some reason, watching people have sex is considered prurient while watching them get killed is not. The word pornography becomes an epithet for visual coverage of an activity at last as basic to humankind as eating and probably more so. Photographers who choose the subject of sexuality often become a self produced crusader, on a mission to draw back the curtains and let in the light.

Originally from Hungary, Zoltan Varga studied Documentary Photography at the University of Wales, Newport. His work is based mainly in Britain and Eastern Europe, and focuses on social and political issues. He currently works at Imperial.