Page 115 - BB_Textbook

INTEGRATIVE GRADE 12
The inter-cultural literature and film here build on the
Can Tho Resilience Office and United Nations exhibit on plastic waste in Vietnam. Both the literature—The Man Who Planted Trees—and the film—The Salt of the Earth— are challenging but positive in the sense that they bear hope. This hope, however, comes with commitment, even sacrifice.
Soiree: The Salt of the Earth
The Salt of the Earth is a powerful documentary film that follows the life of photographer Sebastião Salgado who has been photographing the humans in the most difficult and tragic conditions from gold mines to refugee camps. Salgado’s son, Juliano and film director, Wim Wenders document his life’s four decades of work.
Salgado has a PhD in Economics and discovered his passion for photography when he was past the age of 30. Photography became his obsession. His photography projects took many years and he witnessed death, destruction and decay. This obsession nearly killed him.
Watch the film, become familiar with his photography and think about his life story. After watching the film, go to the activities below. As you watch the film, think about the power of his photographs and why his work almost killed him. Focus on what brought him back to life.
In addition to this film, watch Sebastião Salgado himself tell his own story as a TED talk. English is his third, fourth or more language (his first language is Portuguese which is spoken in his native Brazil). Find a transcript of his TED talk on the Bending Bamboo website:
Members → Teacher Repository → Chapter 2 → Grade 12 → Integration
TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastiao_salgado_ the_silent_drama_of_photography
Workers and Migrations
Go online and find a photograph by Sebastião Salgado.
His long-term projects have investigated humans facing social, political and economic strife. In 1993 he produced his work photographing manual laborers around the world in the book Workers. In 2000 he captured human migration caused by war, famine, natural disasters and other hardships in the book Migrations. His latest book, Genesis, was published in 2013.
Work by yourself or with a group of friends. Freewrite about your feelings about this photo. If you are a group, discuss first and either freewrite or as a group, write down some of your strongest feelings. Then answer these two questions:
• Does Photography have the power to change how we see the earth?
• Can photography change our behavior?
What's in a Photograph
Take a photograph that shows something that you feel deeply about. It can be in color or in black and white. Print the photograph and share it with your class. Be prepared to talk about this picture.
Contemplate the Film
Discuss these questions:
1. Where does Sebastião Salgado begin his life?
2. Where is he at the end of the film?
3. Does he have a choice in his life vocation? Or must he be
this artist – this photographer?
4. What places does he go to photograph? Why?
5. Why do you think his photographs are in black and white? 6. How does his wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, collaborate with
him?
7. Describe Salgado’s family. How does his family influence
his life’s work?
8. What is the Terra Project? Can it change the world? 9. In a 2015 article, https://www.wearesalt.org/salt-of-
the-earth-powerful-life-lessons-from-photographer- sebastiao-salgado/, Chris Nichols describes powerful life lessons from watching The Salt of the Earth. In sum, he uses the following words to describe these life lessons. Look at the words and explain how they show something from the film and what lesson can be learned from them.
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CLIMATE | CHAPTER 2 115
• Transformation
• Time
• Sacrifice and Risk • Collaboration
• Despair
• Restoration • Inspiration
10. What words would you add to this list that describe the film and what is learned from it?