DEVENTER Ulla

Butterflies are a Sign of a Good Thing

Germany

2019

Butterflies are a Sign of a Good Thing is an artistic research into the theme of prostitution with an aim to present a new and more personal aspect of it, thus avoiding the prejudices associated with it. This project is based on a very long and close relationship between the photographer and her models. As an artist and author, she feels it is her duty to enable them to share their story with the outside, in their own words and in their own way. This work includes personal images as well as objects given by these women, collaborative works, drawings they have made and audio recordings. Although sex is omnipresent in our societies, sex workers always represent a marginalised group.

About the artist

Ulla Deventer, born 1984 in Germany, is an international working artist and researcher at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerp. Since 2013, she is involved into an artistic research on sex work, that is based on the close long-term collaboration with her protagonists. Her work was recently selected for the “Ones to Watch” by the British Journal of Photography, as well as for the .tiff talents by the Fotomuseum Antwerp.