Sarah | San Francisco Art Contest Winner

Sarah is an outreach worker for a syringe exchange and has done sex work for her entire adult life. In her free time, she volunteers for a community fridge program and writes letters to incarcerated pen pals. This year, she started a book club. She recently started learning to do graphic art from Youtube after years of doodling on every paper in front of her.

Sarah’s artwork Hallowed was selected for the #OldProProject San Francisco Art Contest.

Artist Statement: I have done various forms of full service sex work since I was 18 in 2017. When I started, I had already accepted that violence was a part of sex work and that the work would always be underground and criminalized. I eventually learned from sex worker organizers that violence is not inevitable and that better conditions are not only possible but urgently necessary. I entered this contest because I wanted to honor the long history of sex workers who have pushed for those better conditions. They have had a profound impact on my life, as they have taught me not to accept poverty and violence as inherent conditions for people working in the sex trade.