Darling Darling

Stories that humanise sex workers and sex work clients

https://www.darlingdarling.art/

Darling Darling is a peer-led story gathering, capacity building collaborative project between sex workers and artists (and sex worker artists), culminating in an interactive exhibition set to be exhibited in February 2027.

The project aims to platform the voices of sex workers in our community and to centralise and normalise SW experiences and perspectives.

Darling Darling is co-led by sex workers, however due to stigmitisation, some of these workers wish to remain de-identified. Other collaborators on the project are face-out” (meaning they are public with their practice) and champion the project with those who remain anonymous.

The project comprises of 5 stages:

STAGE 1

Storytelling

Workshops and our online portal give sex workers, former workers, and clients a safe space to write, speak, and share stories, exploring creative, oral, and visual storytelling to reclaim narrative.

STAGE 2

PHOTOGRAPHY

Participants work with a professional photographer to create images reflecting professional identity and lived experience. Select photographs may be exhibited with consent, showcasing the beauty and humanity of sex work.

STAGE 3

SCULPTURE

Hands-on workshops explore materials, fabrication, and construction, turning stories into tangible sculptural forms. Inclusive for all levels, participants contribute artworks reflecting memory, identity, and community voices for the exhibition.

STAGE 4

IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION

Walk through multi-sensory domestic spaces where intimacy and everyday life intersect. Rooms reveal ordinary and extraordinary aspects of sex work, inviting audiences to challenge assumptions about workers and clients.

STAGE 5

PERFORMANCE AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Performances, story readings, panels, and “Have a Seat at My Table” — a participatory dinner connecting audiences and sex workers through conversation, shared experience, and humanising storytelling.

Ultimately, this project aims to humanse sex workers and their clients - seeking to shift cultural stigma around a largely silenced and stigmatised practice, which continues to marginalise those who might already experience inter sectional disadvantage.

Thanks to a generous grant from Create NSW, we will be able to see this project through to it’s completion a public exhibition at The Lock Up Gallery in Newcastle in Summer - Autumn 2027.

With deep gratitude to our trusting, loving and courageous cohort of participants.