Bénédicte Desrus

Women Photograph

Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico

Bénédicte Desrus is a freelance documentary photographer based in Mexico City, Mexico and working worldwide. She is represented by Sipa Press agency USA and has worked throughout Europe, East Africa and the Americas. She focuses on social and human-rights issues around the world. Her long-term photo projects explore the lives of people ostracized by society, and the communities they form to survive and find respect. Recent stories explored the lives of elderly sex workers living in a shelter in Mexico City, the persecution of homosexuals in Uganda, the killing of albinos in Tanzania and the global obesity epidemic. • Her work has appeared in: NPR, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, National Geographic, Netflix, Harper’s magazine, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Nation, Saveur, The Toronto Star, Maclean’s, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times magazine, The Guardian, The Observer, BBC, Arise, Le Monde, Libération, Revue 6Mois, Courrier International, L’Équipe, Internazionale, Néon, L’Espresso, Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Aftenposten, Jyllands Posten, Dagens Næringsliv, De Volkskrant, Gazeta Wyborcza, Esquire, Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle, Henne, Annabelle, The British Journal of Photography & L’oeil de la Photographie. An archive of all publications located here: www.benedictedesrus.contently.com • She has received commissions from a wide range of clients, such as: Adidas, NBC Universal, Ford Foundation, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Post DHL group, Airbnb, Luxury Retreats, Néstlé, GEFCO, Ipsen, Gaz de France Foundation, Capa Pictures, Reuters-East Africa, Blink, The European Commission, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNESCO, Global Fund For Women, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), WaterAid, Help Age, Tanzania Albino Society (TAS), Population Service International (PSI).

2020 - Addis Foto Fest (Ethiopia), 2018 - Indian Photography Festival – Hyderabad, 2016 - 2016 SoPhot Photo contest (France), 2016 - 2016 Pride Photo Award (The Netherlands), 2015 - 2015 Syngenta Photography Award, 2014 - The Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA), 2013 - Humanity Photo Awards - China, 2013 - REVELA International Photography Award - Spain, 2012 - NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, 2012 - OPEN Photo - (OSISA), 2012 - PDN Photo Annual, 2012 - Mexico Contemporary Photography Contest, 2012 - International Photography Awards , 2012 - New York Photo Awards, 2012 - New York Photo Festival, 2012 - Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, 2011 - Humanity Photo Awards - China, 2011 - XIV Luis Valtueña Photography Award - Spain, 2011 - Open Society Institute (OSI) , 2011 - Pride Photo Award - Amsterdam

Architecture
Breaking news
Corporate
Editorial
Entertainment
Environment
Events
Food
Interior
Landscape
Portrait
Reporting
Sports

English
Spanish
French

Portrait of Frank Devlyn

Bénédicte Desrus

Portrait of Frank Devlyn, the president of Devlyn Group in Mexico City

Casa Xochiquetzal

Bénédicte Desrus

Raquel, a resident of Casa Xochiquetzal, puts on makeup before going out to work on the streets of Mexico City on 2010. Raquel, 66, is from Michoacán and came to Casa Xochiquetzal when it first opened its doors. She wears a wig and pads her bra. Words and songs come easily to her. She has suffered from schizophrenia for 22 years, but despite hearing voices, she works hard not to lose touch with reality. As a way of earning a little money, she gathers plastic bottles to recycle. Casa Xochiquetzal is a shelter for elderly sex workers in Mexico City. It offers its residents refuge, food, health services and a place to learn about their human rights, as well as courses to help them rediscover their self-confidence and deal with traumatic aspects of their lives. Casa Xochiquetzal provides a space to age with dignity for a group of vulnerable women who are often invisible to society at large. It is the only such shelter in existence in Latin America.

Casa Xochiquetzal

Bénédicte Desrus

Portrait of Juanita, a resident of Casa Xochiquetzal, in her bedroom at the shellter in Mexico City, Mexico on 2014. Casa Xochiquetzal is a shelter for elderly sex workers in Mexico City. It offers its residents refuge, food, health services and a place to learn about their human rights, as well as courses to help them rediscover their self-confidence and deal with traumatic aspects of their lives. Casa Xochiquetzal provides a space to age with dignity for a group of vulnerable women who are often invisible to society at large. It is the only such shelter in existence in Latin America.