East London Strippers Collective will make its art fair debut at the March edition of The Other Art Fair at Truman Brewery, London.
One of several female-focused features at the artist-led Fair in honour of International Women’s Day, the collective will present a curated hang and life drawing workshop series.
Visitors are invited to partake in a thrilling rendition of a classic life drawing workshop complete with high-octane aerial poses and pole tricks, as stripping and erotic performance collide with the art world in a forty-five-minute slot costing just £15 per person.
Life drawing and erotica are the basis for many budding art practices, sparking joy and exploring the eternal fascination with carnal, embodied subject matter.
Many of history’s most influential artists owe their careers to life models – many of whom were women; lovers and sex workers.
This is the first time the East London Strippers Collective have ever featured at an art fair, though they have frequently used their flagship life drawing classes to educate people about sex workers’ rights.
“We have chosen to partner with The Other Art Fair because of their artist-led approach. There are many parallels between the art world and stripping, and the way galleries and strip clubs work.
“You get paid in tips and you are charged a house fee and up to 50 per cent commission to work in a strip club. There is a transparency to the working set up with an artist-led Fair like TOAF. A lot of our strippers are artists funding their careers via sex work, so the whole collaboration feels like a good fit”, Samantha Sun, from East London Strippers Collective said.
Founded in 2014, the ELSC supports and promotes self-organisation among strippers and lap dancers, challenging the stigma around sex work, standing up to exploitation and fighting for improved safety and harm reduction in the wider sex industry.
ELSC is dedicated to building worker-led strategies, creating opportunities and growth for performers outside of the exploitative business model of a regular strip club. Since forming, the collective has grown into a viable and sustainable business that is run entirely by dancers and ex-dancers themselves.
From pop-up strip club parties to public talks, art exhibitions and life drawing classes, ELSC remain an autonomous organisation in charge of creating their own working conditions and supporting members of their community.
Alongside the program of workshops, ELSC will showcase their very own curated hang at The Other Art Fair, comprising works created by members of the collective responding to theme of sex work. Many of the contributing artists currently or formerly came to stripping, porn and sex work as a means to help fund their artistic practice. The exhibited work subverts the idea of the muse, giving a voice to the models instead of them being passively portrayed by artists.
Opening Night 7th March 5-10 PM, The Truman Brewery, 85 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QR
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