ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Mercury poisoning in Indonesia

Nur Aini, 33, embraces her beloved Camelia, 12 (village of Cisitu, West Java, Indonesia, January 2023).

Minamata’s disease is caused by chronic mercury poisoning.
This metal, used in hundreds of illegal gold mines in the forests of Java, Indonesia, is contaminating the aquifers of many villages.
In Cisitu, in the west of the island, there are dozens of cases of poisoning.
Camelia, 12 years old, has not felt, does not see and has suffered from epilepsy since she was 4: her mother, Nur Aini, 33, drank, without her knowledge, contaminated water during her pregnancy.
The disease is manifested by neurological problems, difficulty in movement, muscle weakness, visual, auditory and cognitive deficits. Paralysis or coma can also occur until death.
The disease is transmitted by direct contact or from the mother to the fetus with morphological and anatomical abnormalities.

AUTHOR
Erberto Zani is an Italian freelance photojournalist based between Parma (Italy) and Basel (Switzerland). Since 2008 he focused on capturing people’s daily life, strength in their environments. His work documents social and environmental issues, systemic inequalities, cultural traditions.
His photo has been published on BBC Newsround, Cnn Travel, Der Spiegel, El Pais, Financial Times, Lonely Planet, The Economist, The Times, among others.

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