Sebastião Salgado's Genesis presents a
world: land, animals, peoples, as they have looked for eons, untouched by the
effects of modern industrialization. These are both extraordinarily beautiful
images in terms of composition, tonality and subject and incredibly powerful
ones as well. We know the back story: the melting ice caps, the slaughtered
elephants, the rape of the land occurring on all the continents on earth and
our hearts bleed.
I don't know why Salgado's images affected me so much more than
say, a Natural Geographic spread, but I'm thinking it's the black and white
medium, the size, although they're not all large format and the sheer number on
display. But whether they're the tribesmen of Papua New Guinea (who demonstrate
with their leaves, feathers, mud and attitude that fashion and style are basic
human qualities), or the tender image of mother and baby gorilla whose soulful
eyes seem so very not that different from our own, the leopard regarding the viewer
warily from across a watering hole, the terrified charging elephant, the jaw
dropping scenery of Brazil, Canada, Alaska or the Nenet people of Siberia who
have thrown their lot in with the reindeer migrating seasonally across vast
expanses of ice, we know each and every one of them is threatened.