Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian, born 1944
Rwandan refugee camp with mother and child, Tanzania, 1994
silver gelatin print, 24×36 in. (60.96 x 91.44 cm)
Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ackland Art Fund
Amazonas Images
In Rwandan refugee camp mother and child, Tanzania, Brazilian artist Sebastião Salgado depicts the disruption of domestic life for Rwandan Tutsis forced to flee their country during the 1994 genocide. The mother and child at the forefront of this makeshift camp crystallize the tragic disruption of domestic life that this genocide effected. But amidst this chaos, Salgado captures a moment of hope in the smiling look between mother and child. Thus, despite the domestic disruption, Salgado’s poetic framing of the refugee camp shows how these displaced Tutsis remain one strong family.
~Kathleen Reittinger
An extended look at Salgado’s Rwandan refugee camp mother and child, Tanzania by Kathleen Reittinger