Damp fur trimmed with delicate raindrops, reclining children playing with bones and viewers being captivated by a single white of an eye can be experienced at The Photographers’ Gallery between 11th September and 1st November 2015.
Multi award-winning, Brazilian photographer, Sebastião Salgado, depicts the everyday lives of communities in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico in his exhibition Other Americas. 12 simply mounted and framed black and white, silver gelatin prints taken between 1977 and 1984 explore the hardships these communities and individuals experienced.
Widely travelled, Salgado felt drawn back to his native land where, in his own words, “dignity and poverty ride on the same horse.” During his journey he captured poor and deprived communities who live, work and play together.
Sebastiao Salgado, México, 1980 © Sebastiao Salgado / Amazonas Images/ Courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery
Salgado’s photographs are a mixture of staged and natural scenes and it’s not always clear how much has been contrived. In Mexico 1980 we are presented with what we assume is a café. The photo seems to be split into two: the foreground with a neatly laid out table with china cups and saucers right at the front are accompanied by, what we assume are uninterested customers resting nonchalantly against vertical dividing elements such as doors and pillars. One patron with her back to us looks upon the background, drawing us outside to what looks like a more natural scene of people going about their daily lives on the street. It has an essence of a Vermeer painting in its composition, perspective and clarity of people in domestic interior scenes.
Salgado’s images are a close, intimate and beautiful observations of humanity. Whether you consider the subject matter difficult to observe or not you can’t take away the fact that they are appealing to the eye.
The Photographers’ Gallery,
16 – 18 Ramillies Street,
London,
W1F 7LW
thephotographersgallery.org.uk/printsales
By Helen Shewry
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