Image from Kate Orne's Brothels and Fundamentalism project

Congratulations are in order for 20x200 photographer and Hey, Hot Shot (Volume IV, Edition I) winner, Kate Orne.
Kate has won the 2008 Berenice Abbott Prize for an Emerging Photographer from the Julia Dean Photo Workshops.

Image from Kate Orne's Brothels and Fundamentalism project

Kate will be showing work from her series Brothels and Fundamentalism opening this Saturday at the Julia Dean Gallery in Venice, California. The series documents the sex-industry workers living in Pakistan. In Kate's words:

This work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels. The story is not simple. The red-light district reveals itself slowly and subtly, demanding curiosity and patience in order to witness and to learn. Among the women and their families, a complex bond emerges. But it is one often as bitter as it is affirming. The images show women proud despite their stigma, yet modest in keeping with their Islamic upbringing.

Kate's 20x200 edition prints:
Sexworker w. client I
Shahi Mohalla III

Kate's site