Not everyone sees the same things as they walk the city streets. For some women, unremarkable spots – a chipped and shuttered doorway, a litter-strewn graveyard, an alley by the railway tracks – have been regular places of work, and also sites of devastating violence.
In 2014, Hull became the only local authority in the UK to use Section 222 of the 1972 Local Government Act to target sex workers directly. Women caught working on Hessle Road could be arrested and threatened with court.
14 outdoor sex workers have died in 6 years in Hull. This is because of the laws used by a Labour council. In Leeds with the red light district, one woman, unfortunately, was murdered. Persecuting sex workers and their clients lead to death.
Absence of Evidence, in collaboration with Henry/ Bragg, is in Hull until 26 July; in Shoreditch, London, until 2 August; and Soho, London, 27 July-9 August.