It’s been a long time since the powder and lipstick of “Two of those” – ladies of the night from “Fenerli-an”, “Venice”, “Mars”, “Ocean”, “White Tavern”, “Bristol” in old Skopje, were slowly erased from the heavy stigma.
Skopje once lived bohemian, they say, waking up with the first darkness, with the smell of hashish, the parties and the visits of the ladies of the night. Skopje was a passion, filled with the charm of the oldest profession in the world. Sex workers were mesmerizing with their glamour, and men could not resist them, keeping them as real ladies of the night. And they with self-confidence, with a sex appeal, in satin dresses were flirting with men once they finished with their work. Dressed in tuxedos, they were taking the ladies from the brothels and brought them in carriages in Skopje elite hotels. Once, there was a city with an unsurpassed eroticism that inspired artists, poets, intellectuals to create art dedicated to “Two of those”.
But much time has passed since the famous Macedonian artist, Nikola Martinoski painted the walls of the famous cafe-borthel “Ocean” in Skopje with compositions of naked men and women, as a symbol of free love. Martinoski wanted to portray the night life with drunken people, nymphs, ccelebrations in the night cafes, and the ladies of the night. Shortly after he finished the frescoes, he was reported to the police for pornography that has offended the public morale. Martinoski faced one day a prison sentence. Perhaps this is the beginning when stigma begins to reign over the ladies of the night and they begin to face moralist obstacles.
That’s where the question arises: When did the small Skopje with great aspirations become a land lost in stigma and discrimination?
Sex work in our society is enclosed with an impenetrable wall of prejudices. The (I)legal status, the difficult access to health services, the high exposure to violence have led to a gradual loss of basic human rights for sex workers.
In Macedonia, there are approximately 3,000 to 5,000 sex workers who are exposed to violence every day, not only from their clients, but also from the police that should protect them.
The human rights violations, the weaknesses and barriers faced by sex workers are due to criminalization, and restrictive laws, regulations and practices. Every year, sex workers remind you for all these obstacles they face every day with their traditional Red Umbrella March in December, marching with red umbrellas and underwear hiding their faces under the masks.
They persistently tell us “We are here,” but are we ready for them?
Every year on 2nd of June, we celebrate the International Sex Workers’ Day. This day’s history goes back to 1975, when over 100 sex workers occupied Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France, to express their anger about their criminalised and exploitative living conditions. And we are marking this day on behalf of “Two of those” who need to feed their child, two of those who have to pay their bills, two of those who live in the shadow of prejudice and discrimination, two of those who have the desire to experience their rights, which should be equal for all.
On June 2, The Ladies of the Night and STAR-STAR invite you to come to the gallery “Acanthus” at 9 pm, and go back to the time when “Ocean” existed, and to see the exhibition of photographs “Two of those” by the authors Lilika Strezoska, Elena Fidanska, Anita Bereznjak and Irena Mila. Each room – own story, installations, videos, a DJ set with Sonja Ismail, sangria and the charm of old Skopje.
The exhibition and the campaign in a creative way will present the research process and the results of mapping the places where sex work took place, as well as people and events that testify to an urban history of old Skopje, which is completely forgotten.