HIDDEN ANGELS

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

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.

• Biography
  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