HIDDEN ANGELS

• Prize
• Photographer
  Mauro De Bettio, Spain
• Studio
  Mauro De Bettio
• Website
  https://www.maurodebettio.com
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/mauro_de_bettio/

Is called Daulatdia, the largest brothels in the world.
Beautiful and colorful blooming trees surround what looks like a small town,
but actually is a prison without a way out.
A gigantic trap with over two thousand shacks, each housing a prostitute.
They call them “sex workers” and every day they momentarily satiate the
ardor of about three thousand men.
The average age of newly arriving sex workers is 14 years old, meaning
some are even younger, and they earn about two, three or four dollars at a
time, depending on the man's satisfaction.
Sometimes the man thinks the woman is not worth paying anything at all.
On the skin the indelible marks of violent clients- bruises, cuts and burns.
Inside their small tin sheds, they alleviate the solitude of tourists, sailors,
longshoremen and myriads of deadbeat of all kinds.

Mauro De Bettio is an internationally recognized photographer and storyteller capturing the heart of remote and complex worlds. His work documents acid attack survivors in Bangladesh, Manila’s prisons, life in Afghanistan, the dreams of African slum ballerinas, and Asia’s largest sex worker communities. In 2021, he founded the Malaika Foundation to support food, healthcare, and opportunities for brighter futures, giving voice to the voiceless.

Awards 2025 - Overall Winner Our Nature Photo Awards

2025 - Photographer Of The Year 1839 Awards - Storytelling category

2025 - 1st Prize Winner Istanbul Photo Awards - Single Portrait

2025 - Winner Travel Photographer of the Year: The People’s Choice Award

2024 - Winner Prix de la Photographie Paris

2024 - Winner World Water Day Photo Contest

2023 - Winner Prix de la Photographie Paris

2022 - Overall Winner American Photography Open

2022 - Overall Winner FIIPA

2021 - ND Photographer of the Year

2021 - Winner URBAN Photo Award

2020 - Winner Portrait of Humanity

2020 - Overall Winner AAP

2018 - Winner Malta International Photo Award

2018 - Winner National Geographic Italy

2018 - Winner American Photography Open

2018 - Winner LENSCULTURE Portrait Awards