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Venice of Africa

Makoko, a floating slum in Lagos with over 300,000 residents, lacks infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Despite poverty and no official recognition, its people show resilience and unity, turning hardship into strength and fostering a deep sense of community.

Awards

Photographer of the Year Contest

2025

Photographer of the Year

Storytelling

Professional

Venice of Africa

Makoko, a floating slum in Lagos with over 300,000 residents, lacks infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Despite poverty and no official recognition, its people show resilience and unity, turning hardship into strength and fostering a deep sense of community.

About Artist

Mauro De Bettio

Mauro De Bettio is an internationally recognized photographer and storyteller whose work captures the heart and soul of some of the most remote and complex corners of the world. Driven by passion and guided by an unwavering commitment to telling the stories of those who often go unheard, Mauro’s journey has taken him to places of breathtaking beauty, raw reality, and intense emotion. Among his most significant works are his powerful documentation of acid attack survivors in Bangladesh, the brutal reality inside Manila’s prisons, the stark contrasts of life in Afghanistan, the dreams of ballerinas in Africa's largest slum, the struggles of sex workers in Asia’s biggest slum. His work is a dedication to giving voice to the voiceless and an unwavering commitment to showcasing the beauty and suffering of our shared existence. In 2021, Mauro De Bettio founded the Malaika Foundation, driven by his deep desire to give back to the communities that inspired his work. The foundation aims to support food, healthcare, and create opportunities for brighter futures.

Mauro De Bettio

Photographic Areas of Focus

People, People, Photojournalism, Photojournalism, Portrait, Travel

Location

Italy

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