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Valeria Mongelli

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Valeria Mongelli

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11 images Created 14 Dec 2020

The steel plant mothers

Their sons' deaths have something in common: the Ilva steel plant. Many mothers in Taranto, Southern Italy, link the premature death of their sons or daughters to the nearby factory. ArcelorMittal steel plant, still known as Ilva after the name given by its former owner, is Europe's largest steel plant. Scientific studies have linked emissions from the Ilva plant to health issues among the local population. For some forms of cancer, respiratory, renal, and cardiovascular diseases Taranto's rates exceed regional and national averages, and children are found to be more likely to be born with disabilities. Ilva is also dramatically famous for the high number of accidents at work that happen inside its walls.
In my reportage, I portray Taranto's mothers who lost a son or a daughter for a disease allegedly linked to Ilva's emissions or for a work accident that happened inside the steel plant. Antonella Massaro, for example, lost her 5-year-old daughter to leukemia. Vita Tinella said goodbye to her son while he was going to work at Ilva and never saw him alive again: he died on that same morning falling from a crane. These stories are tragic but are also examples of resilience and social militancy. In 2020, ArcelorMittal signed an agreement with the Italian government to form a public-private partnership and increase steel production in 2021. According to many, this means sentencing a territory and its inhabitants to death. Taranto's mothers wonder for how long they will still have to bury their sons.
This reportage has been published in Mnngful magazine: https://stories.mnngful.com/valeria-mongelli-the-steel-plant-mothers/
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  • Vincenzo Semeraro's mother carries the coffin of his son, 11, who died of a bone cancer on November 29, 2020. Vincenzo's death is the most recent death of cancer in the Tamburi district. Many link this death to the emissions of the nearby ArcelorMittal steel plant.
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  • A view of the ArcelorMittal steel mill from the San Brunoni cemetery in the Tamburi district. Taranto, Italy, October 23, 2020. Photograph by Valeria Mongelli / Hans Lucas.<br />
Une vue de l'acierie ArcelorMittal depuis le cimetiere San Brunoni dans le quartier Tamburi. Taranto, Italie, 23 Octobre 2020. Photographie de Valeria Mongelli / Hans Lucas.
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  • Portrait of Milena Cinto.
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  • Workers exit the ArcelorMittal steel mill amid the Covid-19 crisis.
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  • Antonella Massaro is portrayed in the bedroom of her died daugther with her daughter Sara. Miriam, Antonella's daughter, died at 5 of a leukemia.
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  • Loredana Della Ragione, 54, is portrayed in her daughter's bedroom. Her daughter Roberta died at 24 of a cancer of the bone cells.
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  • The Ilva steel plant is seen from Taranto's city centre.
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  • Daniela Fullone, 57, is portrayed in her daughter's bedroom. Daniela is the mother of Benedetta Fanelli, who died of a tumor of the lymphatic system at the age of 19.
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  • Vita Tinella, 63, is portrayed in her son's bedroom. Her son, Paolo Franco, died at 26 of a work accident in the ArcelorMittal steel plant.
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  • Someone cries in the San Brunoni cemetery in the Tamburi district, Taranto. Many tombs are covered by ferrous waste that drifts in from the nearby plant.
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