Many of you probably ask, "Who the heck is Sebastiao Salgado?" Let me explain why knowing who he is, will make all the difference in our learning together. I honestly don't know all that much about him either and I don't know really anything about refugees and their problems and predicaments. I hope that anyone who has insights to this will help me to understand so we, together, can work on this.
Sebastiao Salgado was born in Brazil in 1944. As he grew up, he studied economics graduated from the Sao Paulo University. Shortly after marrying, him and his wife traveled to Africa. While there they started to photograph the coffee plants there and saw what changed his life. Shortly after, he switched to photography and start his lifetime journey of trying to change humanity. His plea is seen throughout his pictures. They can be both dark and dreadful, but he also tries to find the humanity that exists in the individual. He wants us to see their life through their eyes. By doing so, he wants us to realize that we can help other humans. They are not strange, mysterious creatures, but people who have lost to over-exploitation, innovation, and corrupt governments.
Salgado once said, "I hope that the person who visits my exhibitions, and the person who comes out, are not quite the same. I believe that the average person can help a lot, not by giving material goods but by participating, by being part of the discussion, by being truly concerned about what is going on in the world" (2). I echo his words, by hoping that those of you who see this blog will venture to find a whim of new understanding of our world today.
Works Sited
Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 362
"UNICEF Special Representative Sebastiao Salgado." Changing the World with Children. UNICEF, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2010.
2 comments:
Hey! I really like how you introduced Sebastiao Salgado and you have interested me in following your blog to join you in your goal of understanding his work and the significance of it to the rest of the world. Hopefully we can discover the truth behind Salgado's photos and in doing so influence as many people as possible to make the future brighter. Although we cannot do much about that which is shown in the photos, we can do our best to inform those around us and perhaps prevent such harsh treatment of refugees in the future. I really like the style and organization of your blog and I think it uses great rhetoric in catching the reader's (like myself) attention and influencing him. You have already influenced me and I know you will be able to influence others as well as you try and expose what Salgado is trying to say. Good luck!
Thank you for also discussing how Salgado's photographs reveal the humanity in its subjects' situations.
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