His images were never just photographs; they were powerful calls to action and profound expressions of empathy. I will never forget the emotions I felt after experiencing his GENESIS exhibition in ROM and watching the documentary The Salt of the Earth. I explored these feelings further in an essay I wrote during my portrait photography class in 2016, which I’m sharing below.
Beyond his extraordinary art, Salgado dedicated his life to environmental and humanitarian causes, proving that his compassion reached far beyond the frame.
Rest in peace, Maestro
To look at a photograph by Salgado is to immerse yourself in one of the most uncomfortable emotional conditions people have ever known: human pain; the kind that results from exploitation, war, ecological destruction, or an economic system that punishes the weak.
To look at a photograph by Salgado is to embark on a powerful voyage through darkness and light, despair and hope, beauty and ugliness, form and content.
I was not aware of his remarkable body of work until I accidentally came across a black-and-white portrait of an African woman, shot vertically below the eye line, against the light, beside a tree. She was carrying a pot of water on her head. There was something extraordinarily beautiful in the timeless smile on her face, in the delicate way her powerful feminine hands held the pottery vessel, and in the patterned traditional dress and turban that exposed a strong sense of belonging. Her eyes were gazing into the future, bursting with pride and hope. She was holding the whole wide world in her hands. All the elements in the picture were connected in a cultural and spiritual richness that compelled me to think about the life behind the face.
Later, I learned that this particular image, gorgeous in its simplicity, was photographed in 1973 during Salgado’s and his wife’s journey with the CCFD (Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development) across Nigeria to document the famine in Africa. In fact, it was the first photograph Salgado sold independently to the CCFD. They liked it so much they decided to use it as the poster for their campaign, “The Planet Belongs to Everyone.” This portrait was displayed in every church in France and in all the parish houses and centers. Apparently, this image confirmed Salgado’s decision to abandon a promising career in economics and become a freelance photographer.
My most profound and memorable encounter with the life and work of this great Brazilian photographer, however, took place during the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival at the premiere of The Salt of the Earth in 2014. It was a fascinating, thought-provoking, and deeply moving tribute to Salgado’s career — from his first major project, Other Americas, to his most recent, Genesis. For two hours, I was mesmerized by the mellow voice of the photographer himself and by images of indescribable beauty and equally indescribable brutality. I couldn’t move, barely breathing. My heart could literally be seen beating in my chest to the rhythm of the changing photographs on the big screen: from the remarkable scenes of fifty thousand miners sculpted in mud, digging with their hands in a huge pit, to the unbearable suffering of refugees in Tanzania, to the genocide in Rwanda.
There was a moment, two-thirds of the way through the movie, when I felt crushed, overwhelmed and shaken to the core, perhaps to the closest degree to what Sebastião Salgado himself felt after witnessing so much death, injustice, and human pain firsthand.
I was moved to tears by an astonishing image of a little boy standing alone in a vast desert in the Sahel, with his dog by his side, a small guitar in his hand, wearing the dirty remains of a shirt but no pants. His posture — full of determination — showed he knew where he was going. He hoped to join the group of people barely visible in the distance. I hoped for him to make it…
Even though most of the images were heartbreakingly disturbing, they were uniquely beautiful, with tones, shadows, and compositions, easily reached the viewer on a purely aesthetic level. The combination of vulnerability and power made the subject of every photo feel alive, familiar, and close to me, awakening the best of my own self.
I left the movie theater wishing for every individual to experience those images as I did. The power of Salgado’s photography is undeniable. It is not just a collection of documentary monochrome photographs that seem mystical, yet utterly real. It is a precious lesson in contemporary history, photography, ecology, and most importantly — humanity. A needle carefully inserted into our conscience, reminding us of the profound truth that we, as humans, are the spice that can make Earth either a worse or a better place to live. We can enhance or destroy the land we inhabit.
Salgado himself hopes his images can be used to provoke debate, so that we, together, can discuss problems, come up with solutions, and perhaps even bring about social change:
“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 palette of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph.”
Today, we still live in a polarized reality. There are human crises around the world, forcing people to leave their destroyed homes and live in refugee camps. Most of our human activities continue to be tremendously destructive to nature. We need Salgado more than ever. If we have failed to learn the lessons of history, perhaps through photography we can learn how to avoid making the same missteps again.
School of Media Studies and Information Technology - Humber College, 2016
"No photo, on its own, can change poverty in the world. Nevertheless, combined with text, films and all the efforts of humanitarian and environmental organizations, my images are part of a wider movement denouncing violence, exclusion and ecological issues.
These means of information contribute to raising awareness in those who see them, of the ability of all of us to change the destiny of humanity."
Sebastião Salgado
His images were never just photographs; they were powerful calls to action and profound expressions of empathy. I will never forget the emotions I felt after experiencing his GENESIS exhibition in ROM and watching the documentary The Salt of the Earth. I explored these feelings further in an essay I wrote during my portrait photography class in 2016, which I’m sharing below.
Beyond his extraordinary art, Salgado dedicated his life to environmental and humanitarian causes, proving that his compassion reached far beyond the frame.
Rest in peace, Maestro
To look at a photograph by Salgado is to immerse yourself in one of the most uncomfortable emotional conditions people have ever known: human pain; the kind that results from exploitation, war, ecological destruction, or an economic system that punishes the weak.
To look at a photograph by Salgado is to embark on a powerful voyage through darkness and light, despair and hope, beauty and ugliness, form and content.
I was not aware of his remarkable body of work until I accidentally came across a black-and-white portrait of an African woman, shot vertically below the eye line, against the light, beside a tree. She was carrying a pot of water on her head. There was something extraordinarily beautiful in the timeless smile on her face, in the delicate way her powerful feminine hands held the pottery vessel, and in the patterned traditional dress and turban that exposed a strong sense of belonging. Her eyes were gazing into the future, bursting with pride and hope. She was holding the whole wide world in her hands. All the elements in the picture were connected in a cultural and spiritual richness that compelled me to think about the life behind the face.
Later, I learned that this particular image, gorgeous in its simplicity, was photographed in 1973 during Salgado’s and his wife’s journey with the CCFD (Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development) across Nigeria to document the famine in Africa. In fact, it was the first photograph Salgado sold independently to the CCFD. They liked it so much they decided to use it as the poster for their campaign, “The Planet Belongs to Everyone.” This portrait was displayed in every church in France and in all the parish houses and centers. Apparently, this image confirmed Salgado’s decision to abandon a promising career in economics and become a freelance photographer.
My most profound and memorable encounter with the life and work of this great Brazilian photographer, however, took place during the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival at the premiere of The Salt of the Earth in 2014. It was a fascinating, thought-provoking, and deeply moving tribute to Salgado’s career — from his first major project, Other Americas, to his most recent, Genesis. For two hours, I was mesmerized by the mellow voice of the photographer himself and by images of indescribable beauty and equally indescribable brutality. I couldn’t move, barely breathing. My heart could literally be seen beating in my chest to the rhythm of the changing photographs on the big screen: from the remarkable scenes of fifty thousand miners sculpted in mud, digging with their hands in a huge pit, to the unbearable suffering of refugees in Tanzania, to the genocide in Rwanda.
There was a moment, two-thirds of the way through the movie, when I felt crushed, overwhelmed and shaken to the core, perhaps to the closest degree to what Sebastião Salgado himself felt after witnessing so much death, injustice, and human pain firsthand.
I was moved to tears by an astonishing image of a little boy standing alone in a vast desert in the Sahel, with his dog by his side, a small guitar in his hand, wearing the dirty remains of a shirt but no pants. His posture — full of determination — showed he knew where he was going. He hoped to join the group of people barely visible in the distance. I hoped for him to make it…
Even though most of the images were heartbreakingly disturbing, they were uniquely beautiful, with tones, shadows, and compositions, easily reached the viewer on a purely aesthetic level. The combination of vulnerability and power made the subject of every photo feel alive, familiar, and close to me, awakening the best of my own self.
I left the movie theater wishing for every individual to experience those images as I did. The power of Salgado’s photography is undeniable. It is not just a collection of documentary monochrome photographs that seem mystical, yet utterly real. It is a precious lesson in contemporary history, photography, ecology, and most importantly — humanity. A needle carefully inserted into our conscience, reminding us of the profound truth that we, as humans, are the spice that can make Earth either a worse or a better place to live. We can enhance or destroy the land we inhabit.
Salgado himself hopes his images can be used to provoke debate, so that we, together, can discuss problems, come up with solutions, and perhaps even bring about social change:
“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 palette of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph.”
Today, we still live in a polarized reality. There are human crises around the world, forcing people to leave their destroyed homes and live in refugee camps. Most of our human activities continue to be tremendously destructive to nature. We need Salgado more than ever. If we have failed to learn the lessons of history, perhaps through photography we can learn how to avoid making the same missteps again.
School of Media Studies and Information Technology - Humber College, 2016
"No photo, on its own, can change poverty in the world. Nevertheless, combined with text, films and all the efforts of humanitarian and environmental organizations, my images are part of a wider movement denouncing violence, exclusion and ecological issues.
These means of information contribute to raising awareness in those who see them, of the ability of all of us to change the destiny of humanity."
