Thought-Provoking Photos Look at the Dual Life of a Sex Worker and Mother (NSFW)

Photographer Marie Hald has always been interested in exploring the subject of sex work, a legal profession in her country of Denmark. After a number of failed attempts to find a subject — she was looking a woman outside the typical stereotype — she discovered Bonnie, a sex worker and mother of three children. Hald first met with Bonnie while she was working in a small brothel, and after talking for hours in between taking on clients, she agreed to share her story. The resulting series, Bonnie, A Life in Prostitution, is a poignant and honest look at one woman’s daily struggle.

Bonnie is 39-years-old. She pays taxes and is registered as a business, though she is in trouble with the IRS and has been to prison more than once. Her children, excluding her youngest son, and her community are aware of what she does. The children are often subject to scrutiny and bullying because of their mother’s chosen profession.

Hald followed Bonnie closely for a few weeks, often sleeping over, and then less frequently for the next year. In that time, she got to know Bonnie and her children on a deeply personal level. Bonnie had always wished to make a book about her life, and through Hald she was given a voice. “A lot of people judge her, but she has chosen to just be honest and in that way I think she is really strong,” says Hald. In these photographs, we bear witness to the struggles of the dual life that Bonnie lives each day. Says Hald of the project: “I have tried to show Bonnie’s life as honest as I could, brutal as it may be.”

All images © Marie Hald

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