Life Drawing at Dragonfly With New Model ABSINTHE - Hosted by Stacey Clare

NEW MODEL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

ABSINTHE (They/Them) is an alternative stripper, performer and model based in Glasgow. They have been stripping in and around Glasgow and Edinburgh for 3.5 years. In their own words, "stripping made me who I am. I started stripping to gain financial independence from the men in my life who had too much control over me. Now I'm able to support myself and my rabbit (whose name is Salem btw!) without having any fear of what the future holds. It's definitely had it's ups and downs, and isn't as 'glamorous' as it's made out to be. But I'm grateful it's something that has worked for me, personally."

Credit goes to photographer Andrew Bradley for capturing this incredible shot of Absinthe doing their thing!

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WHO ARE C U NEXT TUESDAY?

We are a new constellation of people from the sex working community who have assembled to create a unique life drawing class. Our models and hosts are all people with lived experience of the sex industry, who have grown tired with the relentless misrepresentation of sex workers at every level of society.

Sex workers have been artists' muses for centuries but receive zero recognition from the art world for their labour. Narratives about sex work are loaded with social stigma, while sex workers' voices continue to be silenced and maligned. Policy-makers continue to create regulations without listening and consulting with sex workers, riding roughshod over our campaigns and demands. Media representations thoughtlessly continue to produce stereotypes and caricatures from our work. Members of the public all seem to have an opinion about sex work, which isn't normally informed by listening to sex workers directly. Working conditions in our industry remain poor as long as we are not recognised as workers, therefore denying us protections and rights in the workplace.

To counter this we have begun a new event to reclaim our power. We reclaim our labour from businesses that would otherwise exploit us. We reclaim our images from the art and media that appropriates our images. We reclaim our narratives from those who use our lives and stories for political gain. We resist all power structures that seek to extract value from our labour while offering us very little by way of material or systemic benefit in return.

We have come to expect a range of feelings from people who attend our events - surprise, hesitation, curiosity, uncertainty. It's ok to feel any of these as our class is intentionally provocative - however we would ask attendees to be mindful of the social stigma that sex workers receive, and for anyone with strongly negative opinions or political beliefs about sex work to either leave them at the door or avoid the class. This is a space where we strive to develop a shared understanding with our audience through consensual eroticised performance and meaningful cultural exchange - from one group of artists to another. Our art as erotic live performers is of equal value to the visual art captured on the page, and we therefore aim to build mutual respect and admiration within the artistic community.

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PLEASE NOTE:

- This group is NOT a space to solicit, harass, or victimise our models/hosts in any way. Any behaviours that create an unpleasant atmosphere in the class will not be tolerated.

- NO PHOTOGRAPHY allowed without the express permission from the model, host. We generally discourage photos since the main purpose of the class is drawing not photography. From time to time our class organisers will take photographs for the purpose of gathering content to promote the class. On these occasions, consent will be sought from attendees at the event.

- NO excessive use of alcohol. Dragonfly Cocktail Bar is a licensed venue, BYOB is prohibited :( but we're not the fun police :)

- This event is an inclusive space, welcoming people of all gender identities, sexual preferences, race, class and levels of ability. The main bar is step-free, there is a wheel chair ramp available to enter our life drawing room and there is a disabled toilet which is wheelchair accessible.

- All materials for the class are available for £2 (free materials for students with valid ID).

- The class is led but not tutored, however if you would like to ask for feedback or advice from our hosts you can always approach them during breaks.