What one of the oldest red light districts in Berlin looks like

In 2013, photographer Kathrin Tschirner met Sabina near her home. She had to gather all her courage into a fist to ask permission to photograph her.

(Total 24 photos)

Source: Vice

Before that, Katrin had never filmed stories related to prostitution. She lived near one of the oldest red-light districts in Berlin, and almost none of the sex workers ever looked at her. Catherine was not interested in making portraits of prostitutes. She wanted to capture the spirit of the area.

In an attempt to get more information, the photographer ended up at the OLGA center, which is dedicated to helping sex workers in the area. The center has taken on the feel of a living room, offering a wide variety of assistance, such as sleepover beds, showers, and clean syringes. It has a strict no-men rule and allows prostitutes to take a break from the stress of the street.

Catherine volunteered at OLGA, coming here once a week while she worked on her project: she gave cameras to the women who attended the center so they could show their reality from a new side.

In addition to the difficulties women face working on the street every day, prostitutes are often homeless, drug addicts, addicted to gambling, lack social security, or are the only breadwinners in their families. Most of them are from Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary, but there are also those with Western gypsy roots. Some of them are transgender.

A street called Kurfürstenstrasse has been one of the centers of Berlin prostitution for about 130 years, but work in the sex industry has become increasingly marginalized over the years. Women used to be free to work in neighborhood parks or abandoned areas, but now luxury housing is being built there, and this is fundamentally changing the image of the area.

For many prostitutes, working in brothels is not a very attractive option, because it makes them less mobile, and the price of a room can be very high. There are two hotels of a certain type in the area with a small number of rooms in each. The girls say that one of them is "dirty", but Katrin was not allowed to go there twice.

The second is called "Stockholm" (Stockholm), and this is the oldest institution in all of Berlin. It is in good condition, but there are few people willing to pay an extra $16 for a room.

Getting to know these women, walking with them around the area, the photographer took a closer look at their daily life. She discovered the surroundings and changed her view of them.