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On the 100th birthday of W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978), one of the most respected American documentary photographers of the 20th century, Etherton Gallery presents a selection of 100 works from Smith's final essay project, Minamata, which examines one of the worst environmental disasters of our time, the mercury poisoning of nearly 3000 people in the small village of Minamata on Japan's Southeastern shore. These photographs, from the Takeshi Ishikawa Archive, comprise what is the largest known collection of Smith's profound Minamata project.

Beginning in 1956, The Chisso Chemical …