Book Review Genesis (Gênesis) by Sebastião Salgado
“Genesis is a quest for the world as it was, as it was formed, as it evolved, as it existed for millennia before modern life accelerated and began distancing us from the very essence of our being,” said Lélia Wanick Salgado, the curator of the momentous exhibition Genesis, held at The International Center of Photography (ICP), US. Salgado was a nature lover. His thirst to capture nature pushed him forward towards excellence in the field of photography. During his travels across the globe, he documented arctic and desert landscapes, tropical rainforests, marine, and other wildlife, and communities still living according to ancestral traditions. Genesis is the third long-term series on global issues by Salgado (born Brazil, 1944), following Workers (1993) and Migrations (2000). As the result of an eight-year worldwide survey, the exhibition draws together more than 200 spectacular black and white photographs of wildlife, landscapes, seascapes, and indigenous peoples— raising public awareness about the pressing issues of environment and climate change. Salgado craves to walk back to the time when nature was in its purest and crude form, undamaged, untouched by human civilization. He wants us to know the animals, plants, and indigenous tribes that represent what he calls, controversially, the most pristine parts of nature. He wants us to witness the beginning, the incarnation. The book is a plethora of beauty that depicts what mother nature holds within. It’s a stupendous enterprise, connecting the heat of the Brazilian rainforest to the icy light of Siberia, the dazzling dew of Ecuadorian dawn with the spectral gloom of dusk in the Galápagos. The photographs run into hundreds, taking you soaring high above the Patagonian prairies and plunging deep into smoking volcanoes. They show the tiniest lemur in the world and the largest whale, filling the frame, and one’s imagination, as it heaves through the ocean. Over 30 trips—traveled by foot, light aircraft, seagoing vessels, canoes, and even balloons, through extreme heat and cold and in sometimes dangerous conditions—Salgado created a collection of images showing us nature, animals, and indigenous peoples in breathtaking beauty. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams, Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works, the contrasts of light and dark, recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour.
What does one discover in Genesis? The animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska and beyond. Having dedicated so much time, energy, and passion to the making of this work, Salgado likens Genesis to “my love letter to the planet.” “In Genesis, my camera allowed nature to speak to me. And it was my privilege to listen.” ~Sebastião Salgado. The book helps you build a beautiful connection with nature. It takes you out on a trip and makes you witness the beauty and the peril of nature, the ethnicity it holds and makes you crave to be a part of Salgado’s raw and real nature.
Nivedita Basu Nivedita Basu, I’m a 20-year-old girl, pursuing Computer Science Engineering. From a very early age, I had a knack in writing. One thing and the other kept pushing me forward and today I am being able to cherish my passion as a content writer.
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