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 “Salt of the Earth:
Powerful life lessons from photographer Sebastiao Salgado”
Chris Nichols, Salt (26 December 2015); retrieved at https://www.wearesalt.org/salt-of-the-earth-powerful-life- lessons-from-photographer-sebastiao-salgado
Even if we don’t know the name Sebastiao Salgado,
we have seen his pictures. Salgado has spent his life documenting the human species, often in our most desperate conditions. Recently an award-winning film, ‘The Salt of the Earth’, was made by Salgado’s son Juliano and fellow director, Wim Wenders. The film provides a powerful account of Salgado’s four decades of work.
TRANSFORMATION
I was moved deeply, of course, by his stunning images. But even more, I was struck by the way his life speaks to all of us with a passion for human and planetary transformation about what it takes to do Work that has the power to transform.
I use the word Work (with a capital W) deliberately: it’s
not just a job, it’s Work like “oeuvre”, a coherent body of activity, action taken with a purpose. I think Salgado’s Work tells all of us a great deal about just what it takes to create an impact of this kind in the world.
I’ve been noticing what his life and Work tells me about doing my own Work.
TIME
The first thing I noticed was time – Salgado put astonishing amounts of time into his projects. In a world where we
so often seek quick results, his projects spanned months, and in many cases, years. His project ‘The Other Americas’
involved fieldwork across Latin America from 1977-1986. ‘Workers’, his pictorial exploration of manual work involved 23 countries between the years 1986-1992. ‘Genesis’, his landscape project, took from 2004 until 2013. This speaks of a contribution on a monumental scale. Sometimes valuable Work is not quick, it may not have payback on a timescale to feed your balanced scorecard this quarter.
SACRIFICE AND RISK
Next I noticed the sacrifice and risk inherent in the Work. Salgado didn’t do a desk job. This was work deep in the field for months on end, often in the most dangerous situations. Deep in war zones, treading a path alongside the displaced migrants and refugees, Salgado’s efforts involved personal risk.
It also took him away from home and his growing family for huge periods of time. It reminded me that Work can be costly.
COLLABORATION
What made this possible was that Salgado’s wife, Lelia, was his co- adventurer in the Work. Together the couple founded Amazonas Images to earn a living from the images through publication and exhibition. Although it is Sebastiao’s name on the photographs, it was evident in the film just how much of a collaborative effort this Work involved. It spoke to me of the importance of collaboration and teams. As Joanna Macy, the legendary Buddhist scholar- activist says: “Don’t do this work alone.”
DESPAIR
The Work took Salgado to the very depths of despair. Witnessing famine and exodus, working alongside humanitarian missions and “Medicins san Frontieres”, Salgado witnessed humanity’s lowest spots. “We are a ferocious animal...we are a terrible animal”, he wrote, “an endless story of war and madness”. His Work destroyed his
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