Erika Di Benedetto is an Investigative journalist, Photographer, Photo editor, and Multimedia producer from Italy (Sicily).

Currently, she is living in Western Europe but describes herself as a nomad.

After 3 years of Graphic Design studies in Sicily, she received her Master’s degree in Photography at MOME, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design of Budapest (with honors) presenting a thesis focused on how frugal traveling could shape and improve our personality and get rid of our deeper fears and depression.
She tested this on herself by hitchhiking around more than 20 countries in Europe while also focusing on Italian culture and why English language knowledge is not as widespread in Italy. She has been collaborating with several photographers since she was 17 years old as the personal assistant of both Massimo Siragusa and Annette Schreyer.

In the last years, she met several artists such as Claudio Palmisano, Stuart Franklin, Stefano De Luigi, Luca Campigotto, Elina Brotherus, Luca Locatelli, Paolo Verzone, etc… who have influenced her work.

She has been involved in various photographic projects for clients like the Italian wine company Antinori, Ferrari, and La Galleria Nazionale. Her post-processing has been published in the Italian newspaper LaRepubblica. She has been collaborating with Amnesty International Italy and Hungary as a photographer, and videomaker for the defense of human rights.

As part of her master’s studies (in 2021), she has collaborated with SVT (Swedish television broadcaster), in collaboration with ICJ, and contributed to the “Ericsson List” investigation as a journalist, researcher, and sub-editor.
The results were transmitted on SVT national television channel and the investigation was awarded the Kristallen award 2022.

1. Data journalism investigation, in collaboration with other 2 investigative journalists, based on data from a 2011-2020 European wastewater analysis conducted by EMCDDA and SCORE. The data indicates the consumption and diffusion of Methamphetamine and Cocaine in Europe.

In 2022, Erika got her Master’s degree in Investigative Journalism at the University of Gothenburg under Brigitte Alfter and Ulla Sätereie.
Her final investigation, “She fled the war - and got fooled in Sweden”, in collaboration with other 3 journalists, covering the exploitation of Ukrainian refugees at risk of human trafficking, made it to the first page of the Swedish national newspaper ETC Dagens in 2022.

After covering the role of Visual producer for POLITICO Europe, Erika started the role of Daily News Intern at the Organized crime and corruption reporting project (OCCRP).
She is currently the Photo editor of OCCRP.

See Erika’s latest articles here.

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