Orientalia

Every day, thousands of young Asian women go to work in the sex industry, a marketplace where any desire can be satisfied for a price. For six years, Asian-American photographer Reagan Louie journeyed through this sexual underworld, visiting nearly a dozen countries and documenting the day-to-day lives of women who, either by choice or by necessity, exchange their bodies for money. From Thai sex emporiums and Japanese image clubs to Philippine dance halls and Taiwanese betel nut stands, Louie exposes a world where the archetypes of female Asian sexuality are maintained.