The presence and daily life revealed in "waiting"
- Photo exhibition <Ladies in Waiting> Pohtographer:Roni Ben Ari,
opening from September 19 - 30, 2017, in Gallery Ryugaheon, Seoul, Korea.
Women waiting for someone. They "˜exist' in many places in the world. 400,000 in
Germany, 50,000 in Italy, 15,000 in the Netherlands and 270,000 in South Korea.
These are officially recorded number of prostitutes. A number of them live together
in life with us, but they are invisible. They are denied their "˜presences'. Even
though they are clear entities, no photographs are allowed to be taken lightly.
With this background, <Ladies in Waiting> that is first released in Korea of Israel
photographer Roni Ben Ari is unfamiliar in many perspective. Prostitutes in the
picture are natural, whether they are partially exposed to the body, body
movements, or any situation. It's hard to believe that there were the photographer
and camera.
Israel, Russia, the Netherlands, India... Although there had been countless scenes of
prostitution, what Roni Ben Ari focused on was normal "˜daily life' of prostitutes.
Like the title <Ladies in Waiting>, she captured ladies who "˜waited' for the
customers. Women in the photographs eat their meals, dry their hair, and choose
clothes to wear. They also play with dog, and laugh, chat or play together. All the
daily routines are between customers.
"They are everywhere. But they don't exist anywhere. And I wanted to tell you
that, in my pictures, that they existed and they spend the same time in the same
space as ours, and live a life that is not significantly different from us."
Born in 1947, Roni Ben Ari, who was born in Israel, sent the 1960s and 80s to
study as a researcher, and began her career as a photographer since 1996. Her
works are characterized by long term studies on social issues such as immigrants,
gypsies, and the elder. With her camera she present their daily lives and humanity
as a mirror to the cultured world that ignores their very existence. Many projects
she exhibit all over the world shine a spotlight on the society living in the
shadows, with the photographs serving as a kind of journalistic essay, the role of
which is to prod government bodies, NGOs, and private initiatives into action to
expand the laws protecting the weak and enforce them.
<Ladies in Waiting> is the work that has been recorded prostitutes from various
countries such as Israel, the Netherlands, Russia and India since 2015. In a society
that has been separated them as different group for a long time, the daily scenes
of prostitutes, paradoxically, tend to look strange and emphasize the uniqueness of
them.
