Genesis Book
In the world of GENESIS, Sebastião Salgado's lens becomes a conduit for the raw, unfiltered conversation of nature. Picture this: a fortuitous day in 1970, where a 26-year-old Salgado cradled a camera for the very first time. It was more than a moment; it was a revelation. Suddenly, life made sense, and through the lens, he found his language to interact with the world.
The camera, Salgado's newfound companion, wasn't just a tool—it became the symphony through which he harmonized with the world. Raised on a Brazilian farm, Salgado's connection with nature ran deep. A sensitivity to the socio-economic struggles of humanity paired with a profound love for nature shaped the essence of his work.
Salgado, a maestro of the chiaroscuro palette, initially flirted with color photography but eventually surrendered to the allure of black and white. His lens captured the essence of three monumental projects: Workers (1993), a visual ode to vanishing manual labor across the globe; Migrations (2000), a tribute to mass migrations driven by hunger, disasters, and demographic pressures; and GENESIS, a magnum opus born from an eight-year expedition to rediscover the untouched corners of our planet.
"46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis," Salgado reminds us. And the GENESIS project, coupled with the Salgados’ Instituto Terra, emerges as a testament to preserving the beauty of our planet. Through over 30 journeys, Salgado, whether by foot, aircraft, vessels, canoes, or balloons, navigated extreme terrains, capturing the untouched realms of our world.
Mastering monochrome with a virtuosity akin to Ansel Adams, Salgado's black-and-white captures reach a level of nuance reminiscent of Old Masters. GENESIS unfolds a visual journey: Galápagos' unique wildlife, Antarctic's penguins and sea lions, the Amazonian jungles with the Zo’é tribe, and the nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan. It's a narrative of Earth's splendor, documented with a love that transcends mere words.
This unlimited edition, meticulously curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, arranges Salgado's images into chapters—Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, Amazonia, and Pantanal. An homage to Salgado's monumental project, it's not just a book; it's a symphony of visual storytelling. GENESIS, in Salgado's words, is his love letter to the planet. A love letter that spans 517 pages, measuring 9.96 x 1.65 x 14.45 inches—a tangible testament to the beauty that Salgado sought to immortalize.