Focus on people: Sebastião Salgado's photographic journey

One of the most famous photographers of our time, whose pictures are also known to people who have not made photography their personal hobby, is the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Salgado achieved worldwide fame not least through the wonderful film "The Salt of the Earth" by Wim Wenders. His photographs, which, especially in his early work, mainly deal with the depiction of people and human suffering, are impressive and touching. In later years, Salgado focused primarily on nature photography and capturing the traditional life of the indigenous population in the Amazon region of his native Brazil.

Images that put their finger in the wound

Sebastião Salgado, who was born in 1944 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, began his career not as a photographer, but in business. After he and his wife became involved in Brazil's student movement in the 1960s against the military dictatorship in their home country, they both emigrated to France at the end of their studies. It was here that Sebastião Salgado discovered his passion for photography, which ultimately became his life's work.

Salgado quickly became known for his black and white photographs, which are impressive for their aesthetic beauty alone. However, it is above all the emotional level that Salgado's pictures always appeal to the viewer. As a photographer, he never tires of putting his finger in the wound and focusing on the worst social ills. His work thus combines the aesthetic aspect of photography with documentation in a deeply humanistic approach.

A central theme in Salgado's work is human suffering and social injustice. In his early works such as Arbeiter (1993) and Exodus (2000), he focuses on the difficult living and working conditions of people in different parts of the world. In Arbeiter, Salgado captures the harsh reality of work in countries of the Global South, be it in mines, on plantations or in factories. With his special skill and empathy, he manages to capture the physical and mental stresses to which the workers are exposed clearly and unembellished on film. At the same time, despite the harshness of the subjects, his images also convey a certain dignity and resilience in the people he portrays with his camera.

In the Exodus photo series, Salgado then devotes himself entirely to the major migration movements of the present triggered by poverty, war and environmental disasters. With his camera, he captures in a unique way the fates of millions of people who are forced to leave their homes and embark on an arduous journey into the unknown. Here too, Salgado relentlessly depicts the social and political conditions that lead to these waves of migration. As devastating as the motifs of his pictures may be, the unbroken hope and will to survive of their protagonists shines through in each of them.

The beauty of untouched nature: Genesis

Salgado's later project Genesis from 2004 to 2011 is a completely different kind of photo series. After a creative crisis, which after all these years brought the photographer face to face with the misery of the world, Salgado found his way back through the search for and encounter with untouched nature.

For this project, Salgado documented the many impressive places in the world that have so far been spared the influences of modern civilization. Salgado not only found what he was looking for in the Amazon region of his home country Brazil, but also traveled around the entire planet, from the Arctic to Antarctica and into the deserts of Africa. In addition to impressive landscape shots, the pictures also repeatedly feature animals in their natural habitat.

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When it comes to the harmony of nature, however, people are not left out and so Genesis includes not only landscapes in black and white but also impressive shots of people living in harmony with nature. Salgado visited various indigenous communities, particularly in the Amazon region and the Arctic, and focused his attention on the special connection between these people and their environment. Overall, the entire Genesis photo series can be seen as a plea for the protection of our planet, reminding us how precious the last remaining intact ecosystems on earth and the cultures that have been preserved within them are.

The salt of the earth

Sebastião Salgado's life is the subject of this slow and impressive film by Wim Wenders, in which you can simply marvel at the photographer's pictures again and again, but also watch him at work from time to time. In it, Salgado gives a very personal account of his experiences during photo documentaries all over the world, for which he visited people on the run, for example. He also describes his despair and depression at what he has experienced and his efforts to find healing in search of the beauty of untouched nature. Of course, he also does this with a camera in his hand, taking the viewer on an incredible journey into the abysses and depths of mankind as well as to some of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Anyone interested in the special perspectives and the special view of people that Salgado knows how to capture in pictures like no other can learn a lot from this film. The thoroughly harsh portrayals of what Salgado could and had to experience on his photographic journeys are deeply moving. If you really want to appreciate his photo reportages, you should definitely try to watch the film on the big screen. Here, the impressive images that Wim Wenders masterfully interweaves with the life story of their creator are much more impressive.

Conclusion

The theme of human living conditions and human suffering runs like a common thread through Sebastião Salgado's photographic work. Salgado always adopts a universalist point of view and shows parallels and differences between people in different parts of the world and from different cultures in his pictures. The moving black and white images are not only characterized by a deep empathy and a clear moral stance, but are also aesthetically captivating. Salgado's special point of view as a photographer, who sees himself not only as a reporter, but also as an activist who wants to change the world with his pictures, becomes clear again and again.