Photo sale brings hope to sex workers

A Sydney photographer is hoping an exhibition of his portraits of Guatemalan transsexual sex workers could save an important HIV organisation from going to the wall.

Tom Williams has just returned from the Central American country where he worked with the Organisation of Support for Diverse Sexuality Confronting AIDS (OASIS), which gives advice and protection to GLBT people, and in particular sex workers, providing counselling, HIV testing and condoms.

However, OASIS could itself go under owing to a lack of funds.

Williams hopes an exhibition and sale of his photographs, shortly to be exhibited in Guatemala City and, from 14 August, at the Buzzzbar in Newtown, will raise much needed funds for this amazing group of people working out in Guatemala.

Williams travelled around the city taking photographs of the sex workers as the organisation’s staff conducted a head count of those working on the streets to check if any were missing.

Gay sex workers are often kidnapped in Guatemala -“ 14 have been murdered in the last year alone.

These are people who travel the streets every night of one of the most dangerous Latin American cities, providing a few hours’ respite and support, Williams said of the OASIS team.

Williams can be contacted at [email protected].