For nearly 20 years, the women of Benin City, a town in the state of
Edo in the
south-central part of Nigeria, have traveled to Italy to
work in the sex trade. Every year, successful ones recruit younger girls
to follow in their steps. Most migrant women, including those who end
up in the sex industry, have made a clear decision to leave home and
take their chances overseas. They are headstrong and ambitious women who
migrate in order to escape conflict, persecution, environmental
degradation, natural disasters, and other situations that affect their
habitat and livelihood.-
The photographer Paolo Patrizi is a documentary photographer whose stories explore underlying themes of – and contradictions between – tradition and modernity, and the cultural disconnection produced by rapid economic growth. He began his career in London, working as an assistant to other professionals. While doing freelance assignments for British magazines and design groups, he started to develop projects of his own. Today, his work is featured in leading publications, and has been exhibited and awarded internationally.
World Press Photo 2013: Daily Life, 2nd prize stories.
