MONEYGAME Thailand

© Elizabeth Waterman - Ladyboys Nat and friends give alms to a monk in the early morning hours, after getting off work in the gogo bar. © Elizabeth Waterman - Dancers at a popular Nana plaza bar perform 'shower show,' where they dance and wash themselves while customers watch. © Elizabeth Waterman - Image from the MONEYGAME Thailand photography project View all images ↓
View all images ↓

This project is a timely humanistic portrayal of the wide swath of Thailand’s sex workers, from Ladyboys, to Gogo bar dancers, to street escorts, illuminating an underserved group of people hidden from the public eye. Public attention on the lives of Thai

For the last ten years, I have been photographing and building a rapport with strippers and sex workers in the United States. The culmination thus far has been my first book MONEYGAME in 2022 and my second book CANDYLAND in 2023.


It wasn't until I went to Thailand in early 2023 that a fierce empathy towards my portrait subjects awakened and social change became a major driving factor in my work. As the epicenter of South Asia’s sex industry, Thailand had appealed to me for years. 


I have since been to Thailand three times to photograph and capture interviews of Thailand’s sex workers,  far ranging in nature, from Ladyboys in the Nana entertainment complex in Bangkok, to the high end ‘models’ in Bangkok’s Pleasure Palaces, to the thousands of freelance escorts lining the beach walkways of Pattaya City. These women and Ladyboys work largely in the shadows, with most parts of their job being illegal. Working in such a fashion has allowed these women and Ladyboys to earn a respectable income, and in many cases, a better life for their families. However, sex work is not without its challenges, and for some life can be difficult and exhausting. 


My  experiences have given me a sense of gathering momentum and galvanized my resolve to make ‘MONEYGAME Thailand,’ a book and exhibition with portraits and interviews, that both humanizes and elevates these women and Ladyboys. There are various laws on the brink of being passed in the Thai parliament to benefit sex workers, namely Ladyboys. This work is timely and relevant. It is a view into a secret world whose time has come.




‘MONEYGAME Thailand’ is shot on 35mm film, and presents a timeless, grainy, colorful look at an exotic world. I am drawn to the Leica M6 with the shallow Leica Noctilux lens, as well as the more rapid-fire Nikon F6. Shooting film encourages presence and patience. 


Selects from the project were exhibited at the Leica Los Angeles gallery  in September 2023 and published in a journalistic fashion in the Advocate in April 2024.


I would use this grant to cover costs of my two forthcoming Thailand trips scheduled for 2025 and support the finishing costs of the project for the book and gallery outlets. Expenses include film processing, film, and film shipping, airfare and lodging, local translator and fixer fees, and many more. I have self funded all the trips so far, but I am reaching my limit, and need support for these final two trips.


With this financial support I will have sufficient material for a book at exhibition by the end of 2025. I have Unicorn Press UK lined up as a potential publisher. Galleries interested in showing the work include Anderson Yezerski Boston, Leica Gallery Los Angeles, and Albumen Gallery London. I expect press in the Los Angeles Times, L’Oeil de la Photographie, and The British Journal of Photography.