In a photo series featured by prestigious camera company Leica, Italian documentary photographer Luciano Checco took to the streets of Geylang and Little India to capture the squalid underbelly of the country, entitled The Other Singapore.
Developed over the last three years, he set out to depict the lesser-known grittier parts of Singapore, contrasting the nation’s clean, modern reputation of being the Switzerland of Southeast Asia.
Managing to compose beautiful images of everyday life in Geylang — prostitutes, pimps, illegal gamblers and all — Checco’s explorations didn’t come without challenges in the vice-heavy district. One indiscreet click of his camera left him with broken glasses and a bloody head when he was physical assaulted by transexual prostitutes in Geylang.
In Little India, he visited a dorm housing migrant workers to capture their despair in miserable living conditions.
Check out the rest of his photos and his experience throughout The Other Singapore on the Leica blog.
Update: We’ve removed some photos out of respect for the subjects’ privacy.
Photo: Screengrab from The Leica Camera Blog
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