Earth eternal
A photographic homage to our planet in its natural state
“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—travelled 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. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams, Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works, the contrasts of light and dark, recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour.
What does one discover in GENESIS? The animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having dedicated so much time, energy, and passion to the making of this work, Salgado likens GENESIS to “my love letter to the planet.”
Whereas the limited Collector’s Edition is conceived like a large-format portfolio that meanders across the planet, this unlimited book presents a selection of photographs arranged in five chapters geographically: Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, Amazonia and Pantanal. Each in its own way, this book and the Collector’s edition—both edited and designed by Lélia Wanick Salgado—pay homage to Salgado’s triumphant and unparalleled GENESIS project.
The world premiere of Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS opened at the Natural History Museum in London on April 11, 2013. The exhibition builds on the Museum’s reputation as the home of the planet’s best nature photography. For further information and to book tickets please go towww.nhm.ac.uk/salgado. Additionally, from May 14th, a special portfolio of platinum prints from GENESIS will be shown at Phillips Howick Place gallery in London.
Worldwide venues for the GENESIS exhibition:
- Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland - September 21, 2013 through January 12, 2014
- La Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France - September 25, 2013 through January 5, 2014
- SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, SP, Brazil - September 4 - November 2013
- CaixaForum, Madrid, Spain - January 15 through May 4, 2014
- Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice, Italy - January 30 through April 30, 2014
- Palacio Reale, Milan, Italy - Mid-May through end of September 2014
- Canarias, Spain - June 14 through August 31, 2014
- The National Museum of Singapore - April through July 2014
- Gazômetro, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - March 12 through May 13, 2014
- Palacio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil - May 28 through August 25, 2014
- Fotografiska – the Swedish Museum of Photography, Stockholm, Sweden - June through September 2014
- CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain - October 2, 2014 through February 1, 2015
The photographer:
Sebastião Salgado began his career as a professional photographer in Paris in 1973 and subsequently worked with the photo agencies Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos. In 1994 he and his wife Lélia created Amazonas images, which exclusively handles his work. Salgado’s photographic projects have been featured in many exhibitions as well as books, including Other Americas (1986), Sahel, L'Homme en détresse (1986), Workers (1993), Terra (1997),Migrations (2000), The Children (2000) and Africa (2007).
The editor and author:
Lélia Wanick Salgado studied architecture and urban planning in Paris. Her interest in photography started in 1970. In the 1980s she moved on to conceiving and designing photography books and organizing exhibitions, numerous of them on Sebastião Salgado. Since 1994 Lélia Wanick Salgado has been the director of Amazonas images.
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—travelled 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. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams, Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works, the contrasts of light and dark, recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour.
What does one discover in GENESIS? The animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having dedicated so much time, energy, and passion to the making of this work, Salgado likens GENESIS to “my love letter to the planet.”
Whereas the limited Collector’s Edition is conceived like a large-format portfolio that meanders across the planet, this unlimited book presents a selection of photographs arranged in five chapters geographically: Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, Amazonia and Pantanal. Each in its own way, this book and the Collector’s edition—both edited and designed by Lélia Wanick Salgado—pay homage to Salgado’s triumphant and unparalleled GENESIS project.
The world premiere of Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS opened at the Natural History Museum in London on April 11, 2013. The exhibition builds on the Museum’s reputation as the home of the planet’s best nature photography. For further information and to book tickets please go towww.nhm.ac.uk/salgado. Additionally, from May 14th, a special portfolio of platinum prints from GENESIS will be shown at Phillips Howick Place gallery in London.
Worldwide venues for the GENESIS exhibition:
- Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland - September 21, 2013 through January 12, 2014
- La Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France - September 25, 2013 through January 5, 2014
- SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, SP, Brazil - September 4 - November 2013
- CaixaForum, Madrid, Spain - January 15 through May 4, 2014
- Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice, Italy - January 30 through April 30, 2014
- Palacio Reale, Milan, Italy - Mid-May through end of September 2014
- Canarias, Spain - June 14 through August 31, 2014
- The National Museum of Singapore - April through July 2014
- Gazômetro, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - March 12 through May 13, 2014
- Palacio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil - May 28 through August 25, 2014
- Fotografiska – the Swedish Museum of Photography, Stockholm, Sweden - June through September 2014
- CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain - October 2, 2014 through February 1, 2015
Sebastião Salgado began his career as a professional photographer in Paris in 1973 and subsequently worked with the photo agencies Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos. In 1994 he and his wife Lélia created Amazonas images, which exclusively handles his work. Salgado’s photographic projects have been featured in many exhibitions as well as books, including Other Americas (1986), Sahel, L'Homme en détresse (1986), Workers (1993), Terra (1997),Migrations (2000), The Children (2000) and Africa (2007).
The editor and author:
Lélia Wanick Salgado studied architecture and urban planning in Paris. Her interest in photography started in 1970. In the 1980s she moved on to conceiving and designing photography books and organizing exhibitions, numerous of them on Sebastião Salgado. Since 1994 Lélia Wanick Salgado has been the director of Amazonas images.
Hoop voor de aarde in foto's
Dirk Limburg
Recensie Tentoonstelling
Op 245 foto's in het Maison Europ�enne de la Photographie in Parijs laat Sebasti�o Salgado de wereld in zijn nog onbedorven pracht zien.
Na het zien van de expositie Genesis van Sebasti�o Salgado blijft er maar ��n vraag over: waarom? Waarom reisde de beroemde Braziliaanse fotograaf acht jaar lang de wereld over om op de meest onherbergzame plaatsen deze prachtige foto's te maken?
Omdat het kon? Omdat hij het als zeventigjarige nog kon? De 245 (!) grote zwart-witfoto's in fotomuseum Maison Europ�enne de la Photographie in Parijs laten berglandschappen zien, zilveren rivieren, duikende walvissen, naakte Amazone-indianen, runderhoedende Dinka's, overbevolkte pingu�nvlaktes, enzovoort, enzovoort. Het zijn momentopnames van het leven zoals zich dat al duizenden en duizenden jaren op aarde afspeelt.
Op al die foto's gaat het Salgado om wat je niet ziet: de moderne mens en hoe die zijn omgeving be�nvloedt en verandert. Op al die foto's staat niets dat niet natuurlijk is. Oud-Magnumfotograaf Salgado laat de wereld zien - door de lens van een ongetwijfeld zeer moderne camera - zoals die was voordat de mens zich al te succesvol begon voort te planten.
Die 'natuurlijke' wereld weet Salgado op zijn reizen van de Noordelijke poolcirkel in Alaska, Canada en Rusland tot aan de Arctische eilanden in spectaculair zwart-wit vast te leggen. Maar wat stoort is dat de foto's toch een willekeurige graai zijn uit een werkelijkheid die je met nog geen miljoen foto's recht kunt doen. Waarom deze wel, en waarom zijn de talloze andere foto's die hij maakte op zijn reizen niet opgenomen in de reizende expositie en de dikke boeken die hij erover maakte? Steeds dringt zich de vraag op: hoe had Salgado's wereld eruitgezien als hij honderd meter verderop was gaan staan?
Salgado weet met zijn foto's niet duidelijk te maken wat hij met Genesis wil aantonen. Hij is altijd al een sociaal bewogen fotograaf geweest, maar bovenal een estheet (zie zijn keuze voor zwartwitfotografie). Zijn foto's uit de jaren tachtig en negentig over honger in Afrika en arbeidsomstandigheden van Braziliaanse mijnwerkers en andere handarbeiders waren schitterend maar te mooi voor een activistisch pamflet. Een tekst bij het begin van deze expositie over een eerbewijs aan een kwetsbare planeet die we allemaal verplicht zijn te beschermen is te gemakkelijk.
De estheet Salgado komt sterk naar voren in Genesis. De rivieren, bergen, dieren en natuurvolken lijken nooit zielig of bedreigd; eerder het tegenovergestelde. Ze zijn schitterend, trots en zelfstandig. Al zijn de flipflopslippers van de meisjes van de Kuikuro-stam een grappige concessie aan de ge�ndustrialiseerde wereld waar ze zo ver mogelijk vandaan blijven.
Technisch zijn de foto's perfect, slechts een enkele keer wens je dat een speels groepje pingu�ns wat scherper in beeld was gebracht. Vaker weet hij zelfs clich�situaties - olifant op de savanne, pingu�ns op een ijsschots - spannend te maken, zowel door de kadrering en de vorm van het onderwerp, als de vrijwel altijd meesterlijke compositie van grijze tonen die de essentie van zijn fotografie is.
Genesis is geen belangrijk document. Het is wel een geniaal reisverslag van een van de begaafdste fotografen van deze tijd. De enorme inspanning van Sebasti�o Salgado om de afgelopen acht jaar naar al die plaatsen te reizen, schenkt de toeschouwer de wetenschap dat er nog schoonheid en dus hoop op aarde te vinden is.
Fotografie Reizende expositie Sebasti�o Salgado's megaproject Genesis is mede mogelijk gemaakt door uitgeverij Taschen. Die heeft diverse boeken met de foto's uitgebracht, van een luxe editie van 8.000 euro tot een 'normaal' boek van 50 euro. Van de expositie zelf bestaan vijf sets die de wereld over reizen. Eerder dit jaar was Genesis al in Londen, Toronto en Rio de Janeiro. Naast Parijs is Genesis ook in Lausanne en S�o Paulo. Volgend jaar zal de expositie reizen naar onder andere Madrid, Veneti�, Stockholm, Singapore en twee Braziliaanse steden. Salgado's agentschap Amazonas Images is in gesprek met diverse andere locaties. Voor Nederland is nog niets gepland. Genesis van Sebasti�o Salgado. T/m 5/1 in Maison Europ�enne de la Photographie, Parijs. Inl: www.mep-fr.org ****
Foto-onderschrift: Vrouwen van de Zo'� in het Amazonedorpje Towari Ypy kleuren hun lichaam met het fruit van de bixa 'lipstickboom' (2009). Een zuidkaper (Eubalaena australis) bij het Argentijnse schiereiland Vald�s (2004)
Op dit artikel rust auteursrecht van NRC Handelsblad BV, respectievelijk van de oorspronkelijke auteur.
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