TITLE: "sp40"

The prostitution exploitation and our contemporay slavery model are a social problem involving in Italy. This image is about a specific case belonging to a road in Milan leading towards a rotten and dangerous urban suburb. "Strada Provinciale 40" : haunted by prostitutes over than twenty years. Most of them arrive from Nigeria. They want to escape a situation of human misery and social deterioration. Usually they are extremely young girls. Once they are chosen, they are told to be needed in Europe as models,actresses, hairdresses or seamstresses. Once in Italy, they are left in the middle of the street facing most of time their first sexual experience, dressed only in lingerie.
The UNODC, ONU agency against criminal organization, has released shocking numbers: over 6000 Nigerian women are brought in Europe for sexual exploitation, for an annual 228 million dollar business.

AUTHOR: claudio aresi (Italy)

I was born in a Milan district 40 years ago, I started architecture studies, a field in which I still work.
I photograph from 15 years for passion or, let’s say, for “obsession”. My training is self made in constant evolution, also thanks to everything offered by the photography market ( festivals, expositions, portfolio readings, photographers associations, public discussions, books and of course internet).
The human being is the protagonist of my shootings, with all his and “mine” imperfections. Passionate about street photography, in the last years I have been working on long term social projects, as the one purposed in this book.
Another project that I am purposing, completely different, is a sort of interactive show with people during events utilizing light painting technique: a magic set where fantasy becomes true. I’m an LPWA member ( Light Painting World Alliance) since 2016.