The life of provincial Spanish prostitutes

Catalan photographer Chema Salvans has been photographing the life of provincial Spanish prostitutes for many years. Not those priestesses of love who work in brothels, but girls who vote on country roads and are completely unprotected from various kinds of troubles.

About the project according to the author:

I traveled a lot around the country with different photo projects and often met girls who sit along the roads. These are prostitutes. But they do not work in cities, not in red—light districts, as it has happened at all times, but at the edge of the Earth - on the back roads along which people bypass large toll highways.

Having decided to do this series, at first I was going to explain to them what I wanted, maybe even offer money. I am sure that if you offer 50 euros and promise that it will be impossible to see faces in the photo, anyone will agree. But it would have turned out to be a production. I try to act like a biologist who does not intrude into the environment of the object of his observation. And then I decided to disguise myself. Animals for this purpose usually merge with the environment in which they live. But there are also those who mimic poisonous animals. For example, no one hunts poisonous coral snakes. They are identified by yellow and black rings. And there are non-venomous snakes living in the same area with them, they imitate the color of a coral snake. I thought that there are a lot of road workers in the area of prostitutes. I bought a helmet, a vest and a yellow geodesic tripod. I attached a bracket to the tripod to mount a large-format camera. With this equipment, I would approach the girls and say, "Listen, I'm going to stay here for a while next to the car."

At first I caught the moment when a car pulls up to the girl. But then I realized that it was much more interesting to shoot the waiting itself, in which they spend 99% of their time. When they're not doing anything. I tried to photograph not women, but the context surrounding them — faces can be seen in six or seven photos out of a hundred. I was not interested in portraits, but in the landscape.

Landscape — because I see the tragedy not in the phenomenon itself, but in the circumstances in which they have to work. In some cases, prostitution allows people to earn money by implementing a strategic life plan. For example, a woman can say: "I will be a prostitute until I am 35, I will earn money, and then I will open a business bar, a restaurant, buy land or the second floor of a house..." These girls charge 20 euros for a blowjob — so that you understand, this is actually not so bad. But, I assure you, they have no strategic plan. They have nothing at all. Anything can happen to them here — they are killed, beaten, some customers leave without paying. Just because a man is always physically stronger.

They come from Romania, Russia, Latin America or Africa, and one should not think that they are all old or scary — there are quite girls among them who have never left their villages before in their lives. But they can't rent an apartment in the city because they don't have documents. Almost all of them are in the hands of the mafia or pimps. And in this space they are completely unprotected.

1. Torrevieja, Alicante province, CV-95 Highway

2. Province of Murcia, Highway C-3223

3. Torrevieja, Alicante province, CV-91 Highway

4. Alcolete, Lleida province, Highway C-13

5. Sant Seloni, Barcelona province, Highway C-35

6. Castelldefels, Barcelona province, Highway B-204

7. Valencia Province, CV-5010 Highway

8. Castelldefels, Barcelona province, Highway C-31

9. Valencia Province, Highway V-31

10. Torrevieja, Alicante province, CV-95 Highway

11. Castelldefels, Barcelona province, Highway C-31

12. Camaillera, Girona province, Highway GI-623

13. Castellon Province, Sant'Antoni Road

14. Valencia Province, CV-5010 Highway

15. Castellon Province, Sant'Antoni Road

16. El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona province, Highway B-204

17. Valencia Province, Highway V-401

18. Valencia, Malilla district, CV-5010 Highway

19. Marconi Polygon, Madrid