The Thousands

Street prostitution is legal in New South Wales and ‘street walkers’ aren’t exactly ambiguous individuals, so it’s not hard to tell where they most frequent. Because of this, certain areas tend to get certain reputations.

Mel Curtiss’ new work, made for MOP Projects, is part of an ongoing study of space and its identity. In this case it is the identity of the street, the identity of the prostitute. Through a mixed media installation, dubbed as ‘at least one part road movie’, Curtiss explores intersecting values of street prostitution and representations of the street in literature and film.**The street is society’s polluted space, identifiable only by what it contains. If the prostitute is a definitive part of the street, does then the street lose its identity if the prostitute disappears?

Of course, it does.