Sete # 10: Juliana Beasley

Juliana Beasley was born in 1967 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began her photographic career as a printer for Annie Leibovitz, later freelancing for the village Voice, covering New Yorks nightlife. Beasleys style is intensely personal. She first became one with her subject when she immersed herself in the world of exotic dancing in the 90s; not the shiny gentlemens clubs of the big city, but the honky-tonk, dollar-a-beer strip bars. She danced in clubs in four states, working with the girls, taking their pictures and chronicling their stories. The result was her book Lapdancer. When she arrived in Sète, assigned to draw her own photographic portrait of the town, Beasley landed in a totally unknown place in every sense. A small city in France, miles away from her usual milieu of New York nightlife, presented a very different scene. What is Sète about?