PORTFOLIO

philippines - 2025

DIWALWAL: THE CURSED MOUNTAIN

In Diwalwal, in the heart of Mindanao, the gold rush has never stopped. The area is known as “the golden mountain,” but also as “the cursed mountain.” Thousands of people work every day in hand-dug tunnels, often without ventilation and without safety measures. Some manage to extract enough gold, others dig merely to survive.

Diwalwal Gold Philippines - Fabio Polese (7).jpg

PHILIPPINES - 2025

NICKEL RUSH: THE DIRTY SIDE OF THE GREEN TRANSITION

In the Caraga region, in northeastern Mindanao, most of the Philippine nickel industry is concentrated. The Philippines is currently the world’s second-largest producer (after Indonesia), and almost all of the raw ore is exported to China, where it feeds the supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, stainless steel, electronics and, in part, military manufacturing.

THAILAND - 2025

ESCAPING THE WAR, LEARNING IN EXILE

On the outskirts of Mae Sot – a border town between Thailand and Myanmar, a crossroads of both legal and illegal trade where thousands of Burmese refugees have found shelter – stands the Hsa Thoo Lei School and Orphanage, founded in 1999 by Naw Paw Ray, a Karen woman who fled years ago from the violence of the Myanmar army.

LAOS - 2025

MEKONG FISHERMEN’S STRUGGLE

Along the Mekong River in northern Laos, fishermen in Bokeo Province cast their nets in increasingly uncertain waters. Pollution from upstream — traced to illegal rare earth mines in Myanmar’s Shan State — flows down through the Kok, Sai, and Ruak rivers, carrying arsenic and heavy metals into the Mekong.

THAILAND - 2025

CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS TRADITIONAL HARVESTS SILENT WAR

These climatic changes in recent years, combined with the shifting lifestyles of younger generations, may jeopardize the livelihood of thousands of families who, for generations, have lived off the land.

myanmar - 2021 / 2025

INSIDE MYANMAR’S SILENT WAR

This photo project began in May 2021, following the military coup of February 1st. Since then, I’ve been one of the few reporters to enter the country clandestinely for nearly five months - across multiple trips - into areas controlled by the Karen and Karenni resistance, documenting different phases of the conflict.

thailand - 2025

STILL MADE BY HAND

Men and women push heavy carts along wooden planks and use handmade tools to gather salt under the scorching sun. No engines, no machines. The method hasn’t changed in generations. One of the few remaining places in Asia where salt is still harvested entirely by hand. Everywhere else, the process is now fully industrialized.

MYANMAR - 2025

MYANMAR'S HIDDEN DRUG WAR

After the Taliban banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, Myanmar has become the world’s top producer of opium. At the center of it all is an alliance between the Burmese military junta and Chinese criminal networks that turn drugs into money, power and death.

thailand - 2025

VENOM AND ANTIDOTES

The Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, part of the Thai Red Cross Society and located in Bangkok, is the largest center in Asia and the second-largest in the world specializing in snake venom extraction for the production of antivenoms.

THAILAND - 2024

PAIN AS PRAYER

The Vegetarian Festival, also known as "Tesagan Gin Je" or the "Nine Emperor Gods Festival," originated in the 19th century when a group of Chinese immigrants in Phuket fell seriously ill. Believing their illness was the result of having broken religious principles and lost spiritual connection, they adopted a strict vegetarian diet and practiced purification rituals to restore balance.

south korea - 2024

CRUSHED BY THE FUTURE

South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced and wealthiest countries in the world. But behind the lights that illuminate its skyscrapers lies a reality that remains in the shadows. Among its 51 million inhabitants, 7.7 million live below the poverty line. The elderly, crushed by a society that grew too fast, are the most affected: 38% live in poverty, the highest rate among OECD countries.

thailand - 2018

THAI MAGICAL TATTOOS

Inside the world of Sak Yant, the Thai magical tattoos. Originally worn by warriors as a true “protective armor” in battle, they carry deep spiritual meaning and an ancient tradition. In local culture they are seen as a bridge between the physical world and the spirit world, believed to have the power to shape or even alter the course of one’s life.

thailand - 2018

HSA THOO LEI ORPHANAGE

In 2018 hundreds of Karen children and young people were fleeing the violence of the Burmese army and found refuge in this structure run by Naw Paw Ray, a tireless woman who turned her life into a mission to provide education and dignity to those who otherwise would have had neither future nor voice.