The photographic lens captures clients, family, pain and affection.
The mother of three works legally in a small house in a village east of Denmark.
Her gaze is so intense, her skin broken and she is covered with dozens of dark tattoos, while her body is weak but yet she is able to give satisfaction to dozens of men and affection to her three children …
39 year old Bonnie Cleo Andersen recounts her life through photographs by Marie Khaldoun.
The daily life of a prostitute in both bed and away reflect on the pictures.
Thanks to the photographic project of Marie Hald published in the Huffington Post, the reader can look and distinguish the pain in Bonnie’s eyes , see the tenderness by which she surrounds the children and discover the life of a woman who earns her living by offering moments to unknown men.
The photographer always found interesting and fascinating the subject of prostitution and since is legal in Denmark, she wanted to find a woman who doesn’t fit to the stereotypical image of a prostitute.
Hald found Bonnie from a website and soon got in contact with her. She went to visit her at the brothel where Bonnie worked, and the two talked for hours. “In between our talking, customers came in,” Hald said, “and so I just sat there eating chocolate while hearing her ‘work.’ That was a wild start.”
During the following year, Hald followed Bonnie and recorded the intimate details of her life, both personal and professional. She discovered, for instance, that her son thinks his mom works as a housekeeper and that the older children know the truth, and for that reason are often bullied at school.
Through this period she became close with Bonnie’s entire family, learning their hopes, goals and fears. “Bonnie’s goal with participating in my project was to show the world that she is a whole person, not just her profession. Her number one aim in life is being a good mother for her children.”
As Bonnie states her children are the most important thing in her life and she hopes that they will have better childhood from the one she did.
Bonnie’s parents use to take her with them in bars instead of school while a few years later her dad was convicted for murder.
She wishes and hopes for her children to have a bright future, away from her profession. However according to her, if they choose prostitution as a profession she hopes they don’t face the same difficulties as her.
While Bonnie was asked if she would change her profession if she could, she replied yes.
Photographer Marie Khaldoun through this “photo album” wanted to present to the world the life of Bonnie with honesty no matter how raw it is.