The abode of debauchery: creepy photos of the notorious Brazilian red light district

Vila Mimosa is the most famous red light district in Brazil. While the main masses of tourists follow in droves in the direction of Copacabana, Vila Mimosa attracts a more specific audience. Several thousand women work in this area in the north of Rio de Janeiro, and about 4 thousand people become their clients per day.

(20 photos in total)

Source: vice.com

Vila Mimosa is a dilapidated houses, billiard rooms, small shops and brothels hiding under the sign of bars: prostitution is not prohibited in Brazil, but brothels are illegal.

Behind the bright signs there are thousands of dark, stuffy rooms where girls serve customers.

However, in addition to the priestesses of love, there are enough ordinary residents in this area who have nothing to do with the sex industry. How they survive in the midst of all this round—the-clock bacchanalia is a rhetorical question. They've probably gotten used to it already.

Photographer Fabio Teixeira spent 7 months in Rio, capturing daily in his pictures what is happening in Vila Mimosa and trying to convey the spirit of this seedy place.

"I have seen this area with my own eyes and I can responsibly say that this is a place of contrast and extremes," Fabio said.