Agents of change

Agents of change

Cameron Wolf wants to openchannels of communication

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Agents of change

The walls of Eat Me Restaurant are lined with black-and-white portraits of people who identify as transgender, as sex workers, as HIV/Aids activists. From today until the end of the month, you can enjoy a plate of braised oxtail or rack of lamb while contemplating these photographs by Cameron Wolf, a photographer and advisor to the US Agency for International Development (USAid).

Cameron Wolf.

You might even want to purchase the prints _ the proceeds go to the Service Workers in Group Foundation (Swing), an organisation that works with sex workers, particularly transgender ones, which advocates for recognition of human rights as well as treatment for HIV/Aids and other related issues.

For the "Tales On Skins" exhibition, Wolf combines his love for art and his passion and expertise in public health and activism to spark important conversations, and hopefully to bring about change.

"This show is about what we wear as our masks, on our bodies. It's about how we define ourselves," Wolf said of his fourth exhibition in Bangkok. The photos range from a pair of men painted in black and white, a white shadow instead of a dark shadow, to a man dressed in condoms, to a group with words like "No Condom, No Sex" written on their bodies.

His subjects are volunteers _ staff and members of Swing. They come with their own ideas, their own messages. With Wolf, they get creative with ways to address the Aids epidemic, ways to unite different aspects of different communities.

"The project is really home-grown. We shoot at a house, with just a backdrop and lighting, a cheap camera. While it comes out looking professional, everything is low budget. It's people doing it from their hearts," he said.

One photograph depicts a woman covered in Latex paint, signifying her outer layer of "boy skin". She slowly peels it off during the photo shoot, revealing her inner identity, her inner woman. She exudes the air of a blossoming flower.

"Thailand did such a good job in the 90s working with the general population, primarily with women and sex workers and customers, but they never really touched on the men, the boys, the transgenders," said Wolf who has been researching the epidemic and travelling the globe since 2004. He now works with various governments and NGOs designing programmes to tackle the spread of HIV/Aids, but has been involved in Aids activism since the ACT UP demonstrations in the United States in the late 80s. In Bangkok, one out of every three men who has sex with men is HIV positive. Swing helps this under-represented population. They have set up various programmes to provide more access to tests and treatments.

"A lot of what we have as a challenge in public health is helping people understand that you can live a good long life but you have to get tested. You have to know and you have to take care of yourself. It is no longer a death sentence," Wold said.

"The government has good programmes for drugs for Thai citizens, but there are sex workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos who cannot get access to it.

"Swing has a drug fund that they have registered with hospitals so people can get the drugs even if they aren't Thai citizens."

The foundation also spearheaded other schemes, such as setting up a soup kitchen for sex workers who were unable to return home (because their families didn't accept them) during the flood last year. Swing organises camps, bringing their members, some of whom have never been away for a holiday, for a short vacation with their peers. They build a community, a family of people they can depend on, even if their own biological family might reject them.

"It's so important to have that sense of connection. It can change somebody's whole way of thinking about themselves. And that's truly what my art is about _ the way people change the way we think about ourselves," said Wolf. His art is about linkages, building bridges. It reconnects him to the people when he professionally works with the statistics and research and government officials on these issues.

The focus on individuals in his photographs reflects empowerment _ many of the sex workers have overcome their circumstances as victims and taken on roles of HIV counsellors, to become agents of change. The art is about opening channels of communication, connecting people from separate spheres, from ambassadors and UN workers to artists and sex workers.

For Wolf, the fundamental societal problems _ discrimination, homophobia, drug addiction, poverty _ are highlighted and magnified by HIV. "To address HIV, you change the world," he said.


"Tales On Skins" runs until Jan 31, with a gala reception on Jan 21 with special performances by guest artists. Eat Me Restaurant is open daily from 3pm-1am. Visit eatmerestaurant.com or call 02-238-0931.

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