The Salt of the Earth: Journey through the work of Sebastiao Salgado

The Salt of the Earth: Journey through the work of Sebastiao Salgado

Inès Otosaka and Gaspard Charles

Giving a voice to the voiceless

“The Salt of the Earth”, a documentary about Sebastiao Salgado‘s career and work was recently released and won a prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It sheds light on his 30-year journey, traveling across the world to give a voice to the destitute, refugees, and more recently to the planet itself through his black and white photographs.

World-famous for his social projects, Sebastiao Salgado reached a turning point in his career after the tragic turn of events he witnessed in Rwanda.

After years of following refugees in Africa, the genocide affected him personally and curbed his enthusiasm for photojournalism. 

Salgado then decided to return to his roots in Brazil, in order to manage his parents’ farm. Having given up on photography, his work on his ancestors’ dry patch of land, now grown back into a flourishing rain-forest, gave him the courage to set out on a new adventure: “Genesis”.

While he used to photograph humans and their fates in war or exodus, he has now decided to focus on the other species that live among us. His quest to unravel the ancient forms of life still roaming this planet led him to the discovery of nature and animal photography.

“I looked through a lens and ended up abandoning everything else.” Sebastiao Salgado

 

The “Genesis” of a nature photographer

From Elephants to Iguanas, his journey took him all around the world to photography endangered species trying to depict the world as the pristine and luxurious place it used to be. Following ancient tribes, he focused on their relationship with the land and the animals, trying to grasp the harmony of times lost. He gives an optimistic vision of the world by showing the beauty of nature that remains pure and untouched by the activity of man.

            This renewal in his photography however came soon after his return to the land of his ancestors. After the dramatic events he experienced in Africa, Sebastiao Salgado felt as dead as the dry pastures surrounding his once luxurious farm. His wife had what at the time seemed like a crazy idea: entirely reforest the property inherited from his parents in order to give him back the will to live. Thus he founded, in partnership with the Brazilian government, the Instituto Terra that has planted about 2 million trees so far. This flourishing forest is now the habitat of many species and offers a great diversity of flora and