The 10 Best Photo Essays of the Month

  • The New York Times: Raising An Iron Fist Against El Salvador’s Gangs Colleagues of police officer Carbín Aguilar, bear his coffin to a funeral car. Mr. Aguilar was shot to death by a gang member in El Salvador. June 2015.
    Manu Brabo—MeMo
    1 of 10
  • TIME LightBox: Inside El Salvador’s ‘War Without Sense’A suspected gang member in a crowded jail in San Salvador, on June 11, 2015.
    Patrick Tombola—Laif
    2 of 10
  • The New York Times: A Bangladeshi Town in Human Trafficking’s Grip Fishermen dig their boats from the mud while awaiting a high tide in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, on June 17, 2015.
    Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux
    3 of 10
  • The New York Times Lens blog: Life Among the Sea Slaves Cambodian migrant fishermen haul in the net on a Thai flagged fishing boat in the Gulf of Thailand.
    Adam Dean—The New York Times/Redux
    4 of 10
  • The New Yorker Photo Booth: Youth Culture in CubaA boxing school in downtown Havana. Feb. 2015.
    Sebastian Liste—NOOR
    5 of 10
  • The Guardian: At Home With Mental Illness Nine-year-old Tong Xiao and his younger sister Ling Xiao are protecting their food box from a pig. Their mother, Tongyimg Liu, is having her dinner in the corner. Maoming, China.
    Yuyang Liu
    6 of 10
  • The Los Angeles Times: No room at the inn for innocenceEddie Martinez, 14, sits crying in the stairwell.
    Francine Orr—The Los Angeles Times
    7 of 10
  • Al Jazeera: Peru: Searching for the missing decades after warLibia's children traveled from as far away as Lima to take part in their father' s funeral at a mass burial in Huancasancos.
    Nadia Shira Cohen—ICRC
    8 of 10
  • TIME LightBox: 3 Months of Political Unrest in Burundi A soldier stands next to a gate painted with the Burundian flag at the Prince Rwagasore Stadium in Bujumbura, Burundi, on June 27, 2015, during rehearsals for Independence Day celebrations on July 1.
    Phil Moore
    9 of 10
  • National Geographic Proof: The Delightfulness of Playgrounds, as Seen From AboveStagmont Park (785 Choa Chu Kang Drive)
    Stefen Chow
    10 of 10
By Mikko Takkunen

This month’s Photojournalism Links collection highlights 10 excellent photo essays from across the world, including Manu Brabo‘s powerful black-and-white work documenting the gang violence in El Salvador, where the monthly death tolls are at numbers not seen since the end of the country’s civil war 23 years ago.

Manu Brabo: Raising An Iron Fist Against El Salvador’s Gangs (The New York Times Lens blog)

Patrick Tombola: Inside El Salvador’s ‘War Without Sense’ (TIME LightBox) Tombola’s strong work, also featured in TIME’s print editions, offers an equally harsh look at El Salvador’s woes, only his photographs are in color.

Sergey Ponomarev: A Bangladeshi Town in Human Trafficking’s Grip (The New York Times) These images capture a region at the heart of a multimillion-dollar people smuggling business.

Adam Dean: Life Among the Sea Slaves (The New York Times Lens blog) Compelling pictures documenting the migrants in Thailand’s fishing industry, who labor for long hours for little pay, often in very dangerous working conditions.

Sebastian Liste: Youth Culture in Cuba (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Liste’s pictures show the rarely seen side of the Communist island state: its youth.

Yuyang Liu: At Home With Mental Illness (The Guardian) These photographs on the treatment of mentally ill in China, were just awarded the prestigious Ian Parry scholarship | Also published on TIME LightBox

Francine Orr: No room at the inn for innocence (The Los Angeles Times) Orr, a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times, offers a searing and stark testimony on homeless children in California. Her pictures reveal the microcosm that is the Country Inn, a San Bernardino motel that serves as the last resort for those with nowhere else to go.| More photos in this slideshow.

Nadia Shira Cohen: Peru: Searching for the missing decades after war (Al Jazeera) Cohen’s moving photographs show how 30 years after the country’s bloody civil war, families of the dead and disappeared are still looking for closure.

Phil Moore: 3 Months of Political Unrest in Burundi (TIME LightBox) Strong photos examining the fragile political situation in Burundi.

Stefen Chow: Playgrounds (National Geographic Proof) Chow’s drone aerials of Singapore’s playgrounds celebrate the city state’s urban design and the delight those spaces bring to children’s lives.

More Must-Reads From TIME

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