This painting is based on a photograph by E.J. Bellocq who photographed women in the red light district of Storyville in New Orleans around 1912.

Hodnett has retained the basic elements of the original image but has subtly altered certain aspects of both the woman and the dog to remind us of how prostitution has changed over the last 100 years.

The woman now stares directly at the viewer with a look of mistrust and disdain. The dog is no longer a friendly lapdog, but has become more threatening...as if ready to attack anyone who would dare to come near.

Prostitution is no longer a profession under the auspices of the Madame of the House as it was at that time, but has now largely become a sad and desperate means of supporting a dependence habit initiated and controlled by drug-pushing pimps and human trafficking syndicates.

Click here for more about E.J. Bellocq and the Storyville Portraits