/ 2018 / /

HIDDEN ANGELS

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.

Born and raised in a little village in the Italian Alps, now based in Barcelona, Mauro already felt from young age the desire to tell. He discovered that the camera was the right tool for him, the eye through which he could speak to the world. An instrument that began to walk by his side towards a long journey of discovery.

“Although it is difficult to express, I think that the photograph represents my way of speaking and what I try to do through my language is to capture the sense of what I breathe and touch with my hands".

Awards 2nd prize in 'PEOPLE' category of IPOTY - International Photographer of the Year 2017

5 Honorable Mentions on 17th INTERNATIONAL CHROMATIC PHOTO AWARDS 2017

Jurors Picks LensCulture Portrait Awards 2018

2nd prize 2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards

Finalist American Photo Awards 2018

2nd Winner National Geographic Award (Italian) 2017

1st Category Winner FIIPA Award 2018

3rd place ND AWARDS 2017

1st category Winner Urbanphotoawards 2017

1st Winner National Geographic Award (Italian) 2018