The Valley (1997–2003) portfolio began after Sultan was commissioned by Maxim to photograph  "a day in the life of a porn star.” The subsequent photographs are almost laughably polite, with sex scenes carefully obscured behind vases or rosebushes in the foreground. The series also includes photographs that underscore the artificial nature of image-making in a somewhat obvious way: a silver curtain that conceals rigging, an inviting suburban street that is just a background, the Barbie-doll makeup of an actress that appears garish close-up.Sultan’s photographs combine the quest for the American Dream with the realities of daily suburban life, and seem to show that these homes are sets for fantasies of both the familial kind and a more prurient kind.