Sebastião Salgado Directory

Sebastião Salgado, one of the most highly recognized photographers in the fine art world, whose work often hangs on the walls of the most famous art galleries. As a trained economist from Brazil, Salgado was very interested in the relationship between the third and first world countries. It was through the third world debt, that Brazil was forced to provide cheap commodities to the western world. By converting food crops into cash crops and exporting them to earn enough cash to help repay the debt, the Brazilian people were left with little food and land to survive themselves. In the nineties, Brazil was fourth in the world in food exports but sixth in hunger.

It was during his exile in France in 1973 that Salgado discovered the possibilities of photography. Photography became his tool, which helped him work towards an improved social consciousness. He joined Magnum, which enabled him to work as a photojournalist and distribute his photographs all over the world. As Salgado said in 1997 "...the science economics is nothing but quantified sociology and my work as a photographer has everything to do with fundamental social questions. I would like to emphasis that I do not consider myself to be an artist: I am a journalist. If my images are considered to have some artist value, it has nothing to do with their purpose."

Sebastião Salgado felt very strongly that showing famine in his images as he felt it was a prime example of the economic situation that the world was suffering from. He was working on a story about starvation in Brazil in 1983 when the images on the news came through about East Africa. Salgado wished to illustrate that famine was a global problem; so he went to Sahel region between 1984- 1985. Salgado's style was gratefully received by the relief organizations as his sympathetic approach echoed their own aims.

It was Salgado's return to Brazil, to document his own people that bought Salgado's greatest recognition. This is possibly because of his personal understandings of the Brazilian people. Salgado's style is a sympathetic one that shows great understanding of the Brazilian poor. He shows that the Brazilian people are victims of outside forces. Salgado's aim was to use photography to bring awareness to people and politicians of the first world countries whose demands have partially caused these problems.

Salgado's images have circulated all over the world through agencies like Magnum and Salgado's own agency Amazona which was set up to distribute images to newspapers and to support the world's humanitarian organizations particularly those aiding the socially and economically disenfranchised.

Biographies

Biography of Sebastião Salgado: The Guardian