Sebastião Salgado, apart from being a world renowned photographer, is passionate about helping to save the Amazon rain forest and its indigenous peoples.
This is his most recent statement:
Whether viewed from the sky or on the ground, Amazon has always filled me with awe. Neither words nor photographs can fully convey the sensation of being overwhelmed by the sheer power and majesty of nature. Just as unforgettable is the feeling of intimacy I experienced when spending weeks on end with different tribes. I felt privileged to be allowed to share their time and space, first patiently learning to be accepted, then quietly recording their daily lives. In this way, I could feel and convey their gentleness. Never has the survival of the indigenous people been as threatened as it is now. My wish, with all my heart, with all the passion I possess, is that in 50 years’ time all images I took will not resemble a record of a lost world. Amazon must live on – and, always at its heart, its indigenous inhabitants.
All images are the copyright of Sebastião Salgado.
1. Yara, with hair adornments made of seeds and macaw feathers. Eldest daughter of Wewito Piyãko and Auzelina. The small paint designs on her face indicate that a girl is not yet engaged. Kampa do Rio Amônea Indigenous Territory, State of Acre, 2016.
2. Alzira Yawanawá, village of Mutum. Rio Gregório Indigenous Territory, State of Acre, 2016.
3. Onãtxo and Thõwero, Winko’s daughter and granddaughter, with little children. Kampa do Rio Amônea Indigenous Territory, State of Acre, 2016.
4. Amapyranawin Awá in the village of Juriti with a pet tamarin (Saguinus niger). Indians of the Amazon commonly raise the young of animals they have hunted as if they were family members. This custom is even stronger among those of Tupi-Guarani origin, the culture that gave Portuguese the word xerimbabo, meaning “farm animal.” Awá-Guajá Indigenous Territory, State of Maranhão, 2013.
“In GENESIS, my camera allowed nature to speak to me. And it was my privilege to listen.” ―Sebastião Salgado
On a very fortuitous day in 1970, 26-year-old Sebastião Salgado held a camera for the first time. When he looked through the viewfinder, he experienced a revelation: suddenly life made sense. From that day onward―though it took years of hard work before he had the experience to earn his living as a photographer―the camera became his tool for interacting with the world. Salgado, who “always preferred the chiaroscuro palette of black-and-white images,” shot very little color in his early career before giving it up completely.
Raised on a farm in Brazil, Salgado possessed a deep love and respect for nature; he was also particularly sensitive to the ways in which human beings are affected by their often devastating socio-economic conditions. Of the myriad works Salgado has produced in his acclaimed career, three long-term projects stand out: Workers (1993), documenting the vanishing way of life of manual laborers across the world; Migrations (2000), a tribute to mass migration driven by hunger, natural disasters, environmental degradation and demographic pressure; and this new opus, GENESIS, the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains, deserts and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society―the land and life of a still-pristine planet. “Some 46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis,” Salgado reminds us. “We must preserve what exists.” The GENESIS project, along with the Salgados’ Instituto Terra, are dedicated to showing the beauty of our planet, reversing the damage done to it, and preserving it for the future.
Over 30 trips―traveled by foot, light aircraft, seagoing vessels, canoes, and even balloons, through extreme heat and cold and in sometimes dangerous conditions―Salgado created a collection of images showing us nature, animals, and indigenous peoples in breathtaking beauty.
Born on a Brazilian farm, Sebastião Salgado has been traveling to the Amazon rainforest since the 1980s and journeyed there almost 50 times for his latest project.
“Amazônia,” published by Taschen, is the result of Salgado’s several years capturing the Indigenous inhabitants and celebrating the terrain, the mountains and the water in a series of black-and-white gelatin silver prints
“Here is a forest stretching to infinity that contains one tenth of all living plant and animal species, the world’s largest single natural laboratory.“
“Even after a career full of extraordinary experiences, nothing has given me greater joy than working with the dozens of indigenous tribes portrayed in this book. Through them, thanks to them, I reconnected with my own pre-history. I rediscovered the lives we led thousands of years ago… My wish, with all my heart, with all my energy, with all the passion I possess, is that in 50 years time this collection of images will not resemble a record of a lost world.
Amazônia must live on.”
Seeing the potential catastrophic consequences for people and planet of forest destruction, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado decided to take direct action and plant their own forest. They took over the land that belonged to the family, in the little city of the state of Minas, Aimores. They also founded founded Terra, an environmental NGO working on environmental recovery of the region known as Rio Doce Water Basin.
My wife and I planted a forest in Brazil in the old farm of my parents. We’re transforming it into a national park and we’ve got more than 3 million trees there. We know the price to plant the trees. What is the price to destroy the Amazon forest? It’s the price that one day will be necessary to rebuild the forest. It costs a lot of money to rebuild a forest. This forest has a price: a huge price. Amazonian forest is probably the biggest concentration of capital in the planet.
Salgado embarked on a new series of expeditions to capture the incredible natural diversity of the Brazilian rainforest, and the ways of life of its inhabitants. Staying in remote villages for several weeks at a time, he was able to photograph ten ethic groups. Taken from small watercraft or from the air, Salgado’s images reveal the complex maze of tributaries that twist their way into the river, mountains reaching heights of 3 000 metres, and the skies so thick with moisture that there are rivers in the air.
I don’t believe that the Amazon has reached this point of no return. I have no idea how close we are to the point where the Amazon will start to release more carbon than it’s emitting. But I do know that we have more than 82% of Amazonia still there. And we must fight hard for it to continue to be there. We cannot destroy more. Nature is capable of rebuilding very fast if we stop the destruction of the rainforest. We must all have a little bit more humility to consider the planet
Money from “Amazonia” will find its way back to the institute, he says. “I’m not a rich person, I’m just a photographer,” he demurs.
Despite all the positives that come from his photography, Salgado remains ambivalent as to its power. “I don’t believe that pictures can change anything,” he says. “The picture alone is just something to see.” However, he says in the case of Amazonia, combining them with the work of environmental institutions can “incite a movement.”
The moment is one of great urgency. In his introduction to the book, the photographer communicates his sincere wish that “in 50 years’ time this book will not resemble a record of a lost world.”
Through its publication, in more than one way, he’s doing all he can to ensure that doesn’t come to pass.
“Amazônia” by Sebastião Salgado is published by Taschen.
An update from Sebastião:
Illegal mining is expanding to an alarming degree in the Amazon region of Brazil, with the government either indifferent to or conniving in this criminal activity. The latest proof of the lack of any serious government policy to protect the environment has come in recent days with the invasion of the River Madeira by almost 300 barges and 1,800 illegal prospectors, with serious social-ecological consequences.
Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age 1993
This, Salgado’s second title, is a masterful photographic survey of the plight of the worlds’ manual laborers.
Struggling to make a livng under inhumane conditions, Salgado portrays their essential dignity amidst the oppression of their daily existence. This massive tome brought attention to the crucial issues surrounding labor and wealth. Aperture, New York,
Links to information and photos by Sebastião Salgado:
And to add to the theme -the following three photos, brick workers in Vietnam . They may not be quite up to the Salgado standard -but they still provide an insight into the world of the manual worker – back breaking work but with a dignity that cannot be measured in just a pile of bricks..and as you may imagine -most of the brick workers are women.
Copyright (last 3 images) – Ray Harris. Vietnam 2009.
and leave it to Salgado for the last word..
What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. I don’t want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph. – Sebastiao Salgado – Excerpts from an interview with Sebastiao Salgado by Ken Lassiter, Photographer’s Forum