"If Las Vegas were a person, it would be male,” 28-year-old Austrian photographer Stefanie Moshammer says. “The roles of men and women are clearly defined within the world of Vegas strip clubs, and male desire is understood to be the thing that keeps the wheels turning. But it’s not just the clubs, Vegas itself is overflowing with testosterone. The whole city is like a constructed space built on fantasy and illusion.”
One week is all it took for Moshammer to be seduced by Sin City and the irresistible myths that surround it. Shortly after an initial trip, she returned to live there. The city, shimmering like a mirage in the middle of the Nevada desert, caters to any vice. All of the old clichés can be found unchanged: the strip clubs, the casinos, the shotgun wedding chapels and the seedy motels. It’s a writhing pleasure land, saturated with a dizzying cacophony of dollar bills and neon signs.
The Vegas that Moshammer presents to us in her project 'Vegas and She', however, is markedly different. The Vegas that she presents us with, is female. Though not initially setting out to make a project about the women of Vegas, Moshammer found it unavoidable; they were a constant, unfaltering presence, the lifeblood of the place. “In the machinery of adult entertainment in Las Vegas, the women are everything. They are the insides that keep the outside moving,” she explains. “During my time there, I confronted myself with that male Vegas, in the same way as getting to know somebody. I thought of ‘She’ as the other pole, the antithesis. ‘She’ is me, and all of the other women that appear in the project.”
Moshammer’s interactions with female strippers and escorts working in the city unfold slowly, in quiet corners, and away from the dazzling lights of the strip. “I met all of the women I photographed while living in Vegas. Some I got to know really well, and others I only had passing interactions with on the street. As a female photographer, they trusted my work and so they opened up to me. I became curious about them and their stories”.
“I always wondered what was behind the dream of sophistication and opulence that people search for in Las Vegas,” Moshammer says. And it’s true that Vegas is a place where one can become anybody – it’s a city full of characters.
When you’ve been there for some time, the place has a deep effect on you, Moshammer alludes. As if it crawls into your soul. “Vegas, what is it? And why are you eating all of her?” she writes simply. And with that notion, her images offer us subtle, heartbreaking glimpses into the realities of life as a girl in Las Vegas. Click on...
“I got to know one stripper through a friend of mine who was born and raised in Las Vegas. Her name is Shannon. She was my first connection to the stripper scene and she was also the one who introduced me to some of the other women she worked with. All together I photographed seven women – the youngest one was 19, the oldest was 50. They worked in clubs all over the city.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“I saw this pink Cadillac parked right in front of a wedding chapel. You can rent it to get a ride after a shotgun wedding in Vegas. The way it was covered felt like such a perfect example of how things work in Vegas and the whole clichéd process of marriage in the city: such a beautiful car, but no proper appreciation.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“I spotted her a few times, out hustling on Fremont Street. She always looked different; each time a new incarnation. Some time later, I came across her again in jail in Las Vegas. She sat next to me at a long prison dining table and we ate the worst food I’ve ever had in my life. I suppose that’s one way to meet people in Vegas again.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“When I met Tiania she was 21 years old. “You never tell your real name to people in the club,” she told me. That’s why the girls have stage names. Tiania calls herself Toni. “I just got twins,” she said, directing my attention to her new set of breasts. When I met Tiania it was her first time in Vegas. A big boxing fight was happening and people from all over the world has travelled in to see it.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“I met Natalie in a barber shop on Fremont Street while she waited to get her hair done. She was 50 and had lived in Las Vegas for over 20 years. She came all those years ago to dance and never left, because it’s a good way to make money.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“Erika’s stage name is Cory. She had a big scar on her neck when we met, from her ex boyfriend she told me. ‘I’ve dated rock stars who came into the club and wanted to meet me again’, she explained.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“All of the women I met had a different take on the city, but when it comes down to it, the overriding motivation for being there is always to make money. And Las Vegas is the perfect place for that, it’s all about money.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“At some point I began to feel exhausted of Vegas. If I were to paint the city, it would be a beast with many heads. Pain and pleasure entwine there. This photographs depicts me, in the house I lived in. I pair this image with one of a letter that landed in my mailbox one day. After I received it, my relationship with the city changed...”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“‘To the Austrian Girl’, the envelope said, along with the address of the place I lived. The letter came from a man called Troy. All I knew about him was written in that letter and I had only ever seen him once. The week previously, he had knocked on my door and when I opened it, we had talked briefly. Troy’s delusions were palpable. After receiving the letter I became paranoid, thinking that Troy could be just around any corner, watching me.
Suddenly, 'Vegas and She' had all the more relevance. It led to a new, more personal project called 'I Can Be Her' that I worked on afterwards. I began to see the city in a new light; I was experiencing the machine from the inside.
Troy’s words represent my understanding of Las Vegas so well. It’s a heady mix of reality and fiction, something charming and terrifying in equal measure.
I never saw him again.”
Photographed by Stefanie Moshammer.
“When you drive out and leave Vegas, you’ll find yourself deep within the landscape of the Mojave Desert, surrounded by pink-tinged mountains. There, the so-called Sin City fades away.”
Signed copies of Vegas And She are available directly from Stefanie Moshammer, €35.
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