Nigeria - Owerri 02/2017

Photos Marco Giannattasio

Mental illness is also an unresolved problem for the wealthiest nations. In Nigeria, in the Delta region, these patients are completely abandoned. They are often admitted to improvised clinics. Although very rare, there are still clinics practicing traditional medicine, based on herbs and magic rituals. In these places, chain containment is widely practiced. Patients lie everywhere, in dark and narrow spaces, surrounded by everything they own. The head of the clinic is a local king, Mr. Luke Man, who receives guests in his salon and practices his rituals in his shrine, full of statues, amulets and animal remains.