Dongguan
Zhang Hai'er
张海儿
Production date
2005
Object Detail
Media
digital C-type print
Measurements
100 x 67 cm
Notes
When the Communists took power in 1949, Mao Zedong banned prostitution, along with concubinage and foot binding, but it returned in force in the era of free market reforms after his death. The new sexual economy was particularly evident in the cities and factory towns of the Pearl River Delta, where young people from the countryside flocked to look for work, escaping rural poverty. The city of Dongguan became especially notorious as a centre of China’s sex trade; together with his hometown of Guangzhou, Dongguan became a focus for Zhang Hai’er as he entered the shadow world of male and female sex workers, leaving messages on online forums to seek new muses. Zhang says, ‘Should people think that the person who took these photographs has a kind of wicked taste? They guessed correctly.’
Accession number
2014.195