Sebastião Salgado

Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian, born 1944
Scene near the Marubo Maronal village. State of Amazonas, Brazil, 1998
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 1998 Sebastião Salgado ventured deep into the western Amazon Rainforest to see the effects of globalizing pressures on the indigenous people of Brazil. Here we witness the daily process of a Marubo mother’s work, collecting herbs, berries and water for her family. The Marubo people reside in the forest along the Brazilian Peruvian border and practice traditional swidden (or “slash and burn”) agriculture, moving their farm-plots almost every decade. Through this image, Salgado, an activist photographer, communicates the urgency and necessity to conserve the rainforest. Salgado’s luminescent sliver gelatin dictates a narrative of light, love and bare necessities within this small family unit.

~Marietta Stewart

An extended look a Salgado’s Scene near the Marubo Maronal village. State of Amazonas, Brazil by Marietta Stewart

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