ENTRY DESCRIPTION
2017. Archival Pigment Print. 40.6 x 61 cm

At age 62, Coco is one of the oldest women in the brothels, where she has been a prostitute for more than 30 years. Her mother sold her into prostitution. As Coco got older, she stayed at the brothels in order to earn enough money to help raise her five children, all of whom are aware she is a prostitute. Coco used different drugs, including crack cocaine, but she says that drug damaged her lungs. She stopped using drugs in 2006. She is somewhat of an anomaly: She has a roster of steady clients who adhere to the set of rules she has established, and she earns extra money selling condoms and lubricants to some of the other women in the brothels. During our time together, she told me that she was looking forward to retiring from work in the brothels and hoped to purchase a stand in the marketplace. The last time I saw her she told me she was diagnosed with cancer and had no money to get treated. She begs for money from people in the brothels. (2017)

AUTHOR
Ada Trillo is a fine art photographer based in Philadelphia, PA, and Juarez, Mexico. Trillo holds degrees from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan and Drexel University in Philadelphia. Trillo’s work is concerned with human rights issues facing Latin America. Trillo has documented forced prostitution in Juarez, Mexico, La Bestia, the migrant caravans of 2018 and 2020, and the struggles of asylum seekers directly affected by Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, in her hometown of Juarez, Mexico. Trillo has exhibited internationally at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, The Photo Meetings in Luxembourg, The Passion for Freedom Art Festival in London, Festival Internazionale di Fotografia in Cortona Italy and at the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at the John Jay College in New, York. In 2017, Trillo received a Leeway Foundation’s Art and Change Grant. Her work has been featured in The British Journal of Photography, The Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine. Trillo was recently awarded a CFEVA Fellowship by The Center For Emerging Visual Artists and was named the Visual Artist-in-Residence for Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Trillo was awarded First Place in Editorial Photos with the Tokyo International Foto Awards, The ME&Eve grant with the Center of photographic arts in Santa Fe. She recently was awarded first price of Focus Photo LA.

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