This photo essay depicts the life of favelas, or shantytowns, in Rio, Brazil, as the communities are deteriorated by gang violence. I document how the violent climate affects the residents and even people outside of the favelas.

A boy in Cantagalo favela is on a fence , looking on the rich ipanema community.Rio, Jan 18 2008.

I [...]

Under the streets of Ulaan Baatar, the coldest capital city in the world, many children struggle to survive the bitter winter. Munkhbat & Altangeret are both 15 and have lived in a manhole together for over 3 years.
A tough, lonely existence, violence from drunken adults and other street children is ever present and their [...]

I consider it hell on earth. Literally. The smell, the smoke, the heat, the conditions. No human should have to live here, work here, grow up here, exist here, yet thousands do.

For almost a century now Jharia coal mines have been burning in the state of Jharkhand, India. It’s one of the largest coal mines [...]

You better hold on, something’s happening here.
You better hold on, meet you in Tompkins Square.
— Lou Reed, Hold On (1989)
Tompkins Square Park is about the resistance and struggle of people in the Lower East Side, literally to exist as the community faced drastic gentrification in the late 1980s and mid-1990s. This story focuses [...]

Dharavi’s tight and bustling alleys filled with machine shops, recycling plants, and makeshift homes house more than a million people on some of Mumbai’s most sought after land. This photo essay is a glimpse of the daily life of Dharavi’s residents.

I was fortunate enough to receive two assignments due to the recent “Slumdog Millionaire” hype [...]

HomeBound: Life in a student dormitory.
The student residence hall “Stiv Naumov” is part of the State Student Housing Center – Skopje, a state institution which takes care of housing and meal plans for students coming from other parts of the country (Macedonia) to attend university in the capital Skopje. “Stiv Naumov” is by [...]