I found Project Prostitute through the blog Voodoo Village, and thought it was a really neat idea. People submit drawings of prostitutes -- that's it. You don't have to have ANY artistic ability to do it. It's just kind of a sociological experiment to see, like, what's reflected about a person by what they draw. Some of the drawings are disgusting and some are beautiful, and this one's mine.

I live in Hawaii, and prostitution is really common all over, especially in the dense cities. Down in Waikiki, people dress pretty provocatively year-round -- it makes me wonder if sometimes it's hard to tell the prostitutes from the regulars. Like, maybe they have a secret visual code? But then, from what I hear, the prostitutes are pretty aggressive. I guess they kind of have to be, to get the job done.

One of my coffeeshop regulars was a beautiful young female police officer. One day she came in all tarted up, in a minidress and lots of makeup, with her hair in big plastic-looking curls. The next day she came in wearing her usual t-shirt and jeans, and I asked if she had gone to a party or something. She told me she'd gone undercover as a prostitute. I said I wouldn't think she'd ever pass for a prostitute because she looks so wholesome. "I didn't think so either!" she said, "but we made a TON of arrests. Mostly military guys. Kind of sad, since so many of them are married." I'm a military wife, so it made me wonder. Poor guys.

materials: ink on bristol + PS7