© Sebastiao Salgado, Genesis
About four years ago, Sebastiao Salgado initiated what may be his last long term photographic journey, eight years to reach out and document the fragile locations of wilderness that are left untouched on this planet. The project Genesis will then become the latest and perhaps the most important legacy of this influential photographer. Photographic projects become milestones of our history when the photographer pursues not only artistic excellence but activism, and becomes a witness to expose the truth and change the world. This is the legacy of Sebastiao Salgado, a legacy of influence to all photographers that live with the urge to achieve positive change.
Sebastiao Salgado is synonymous of black and white photography. All his work, each of his projects, are images where the density of blacks shape the light so to become even more important than the light itself. But choosing to describe the legacy of the untouched landscapes, the primitive cultures, without color is to represent the world without the decor that we all perceive and value. It is then, that one realizes that rather than being a collection of beautiful images alone, Genesis is a message. It is the message that is best described with photography that goes to the core and makes you think, and makes you appreciate, and makes you understand. Color changes with the temperature of the light, and disappears in the night. But the form and the message are immutable, and so, Sebastiao Salgado”s black and white photography of untouched places and cultures, becomes a message from the past to the future, a message to appreciate and protect what is left and what we should not perturb.
The New York Times has a recent brief mention about his work. Bellow you can see a video with a recent conversation with Sebastiao Salgado at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
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