Aurora art show depicts sex workers in Thailand

AURORA — Matt Hook isn’t trying to eliminate the business of prostitution in Thailand, he just wants it to return to a “normal number.”

Since the end of the Vietnam War, Hook said, Thailand has seen a rampant rise in prostitution — it is estimated that there are up to 300,000 prostitutes, or sex workers, in the country.

“It makes sense,” Hook said of Thailand’s sex trade business; it is a way for young women to make money and feed their families in an area where women have few economic options.

Hook is the executive director of ServantWorks, a non-profit Christian missionary based in downtown Aurora that works to increase the skill set of young women who might otherwise be involved in prostitution.

“The economic reality is they have very few choices,” said Hook, who commissioned Aurora photographer Jimi Allen to capture the reality of the sex trade industry through images taken since 2004, when ServantWorks was established.

“It’s so overwhelming,” said Allen, who put together the exhibit “girl. factorial.” that will show on Friday and Saturday at his gallery in downtown Aurora.

Allen and Hook have both traveled to Thailand and visited areas where prostitution encourages tourism — square blocks filled with bars where girls wear numbers, and are hired to go on dates for $10.

“Sex clubs are everywhere,” said Allen, who describes one of the areas, Cowboy Street, as an adult playground — a Disneyland of the sex trade. The irony is that prostitution is illegal in Thailand, yet it is a billion dollar industry.

“You can be anybody and can pay $50 for a girl,” Allen said. It’s one thing to say that, but an entirely different thing to see it, he added. “We want (the exhibit) to take you through what you need to know,” he said.

The mobile installation is filled with color photographs from the streets and inside the bars where prostitution is most pervasive. Words, charts and stories accompany the images to set the scene of the business of prostitution in Thailand, and how “10 percent of rural women living in poverty in Thailand will ultimately end up in prostitution.”

Aside from creating awareness, the exhibit shows ways people can get involved and take action, from donating money to hosting a Narimon jewelry house party — Thai women living at the four ServantWorks’ homes learn the craft of jewelry making.

“We want them to think more of themselves, so they don’t have to sell themselves,” Hook said.

“girl. factorial.” shows from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Jimi Allen’s Perspectives Gallery, 56 S. LaSalle St. in Aurora. For information, visit www.narimon.org and www.servantworks.com.