Nong was a freelance sex worker when I met her in 1999. I was quite close to her and photographed her many times. Nong protected me from harm when I was new to the whole Thai scene and did not know really what was what. When I photographed her in 1999 she had one child, a young girl and was working in a freelance sex worker bar to support her. Nong's mother lived in a slum in Bangkok with the young girl, sometimes Nong would stay with her family and sometimes she would stay with her customer. Her father was an alcoholic the only time I met him he was drunk and
playing cards. When he saw me (rich Westerner) he started hitting me up for money but
Nong got in the way and protected me from his loud drunken requests.
Nong used to
self harm, one time I found her cutting into her arm with a sharp
knife. I am not sure how often it happened but it did, sometimes after I
knew of the problem I would notice scars on her arm from the cuts. I used to talk about that with her but I do not think anything I said really mattered. Nong was always a good person to me, in a different life she could have had more opportunities and a better life, and not be reduced to selling her self and still end up living in such poverty.
Whenever I think of the Westerners going to bars and buying girls I think about Nong and how difficult her life was, the average girl in the bar has similar hardships. That is why the bar world is so ugly, the exploitation and tragedy of the lives of the women who work there. Most every girl who sells herself is doing so with Nongs background and circumstances.
When I returned to Thai in 2003 I wanted to meet and photograph Nong again but she had left the bar world and I had no working phone number or email for her. I was able to track her down after some detective work. I knew what area of the city she lived in so I took took her photo and a taxi there and then just started asking people I met on the street if they knew her. Rather incredibly in a city of 8 million folks the first girl I asked new Nong. After some convincing that I was really Nongs friend I got on the back of a motorbike with the girl and 15 minutes later I was talking to Nong.
In the 4 years since I had known her she had 2 more children for a total of 3 and had hooked up with a Thai man who worked as a security guard. Nong had left the sex worker world and was living very poor. She had lost part of a front tooth and seemed so haggard and thin, it was heartbreaking to see how difficult her life had become. The whole time I was with her that day she never smiled or laughed. Nong had forgotten how to speak most of her English so we mostly spoke Thai. That night as I was leaving her and her family I took this photo as she walked me out of the slum to a place I could get a taxi.
The photo was made with Leica and direct flash, I think it was a 28mm lens. It was a bit of a lucky shot as I was shooting in almost complete darkness as she walked towards me with no auto focus. Like always the film of choice was Tri-x.
I do not know what has happened to Nong since 2003, I do not know if she is still alive or what has happened to her children. Sometimes life in Thai can be very hard, she is-was such a sweet polite person, I remember her laugh and the glint in her eyes when I photographed her. I hope she was able to find some kind of happiness in her life, she deserves it.
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| Nong slum street, Bangkok Thailand 2003 |
