Aileen Mioko Smith (born in Tokyo) was a Japanese American activist and author who became the primary text collaborator for W. Eugene Smith's documentation of Minamata disease. Born to a Japanese mother and an American father, she moved to the United States at age 11. After studying at Stanford University, she met photojournalist W. Eugene Smith in New York in 1970 and began assisting him with his retrospective exhibition. They married in Japan in 1971 and spent three years living in Minamata, documenting the devastating effects of mercury poisoning on the local population. Her work on 'Minamata' reached a global audience in 1975. Following Smith's death, she continued her activism, supporting victims of industrial pollution and campaigning against nuclear power and other public health threats.[1,2]
