Sebastião Salgado: Migrations: Humanity in Transition

by Sebastião Salgado (Photographer)

In Migrations , Sebastião Salgado turns his attention to the staggering phenomenon of mass migration. Photographs taken over seven years across more than 35 countries document the epic displacement of the world's people at the close of the twentieth century. Wars, natural disasters, environmental degradation, explosive population growth and the widening gap between rich and poor have resulted in over one hundred million international migrants, a number that has doubled in a decade. This demographic change, unparalleled in human history, presents profound challenges to the notions of nation, community, and citizenship. The first extensive pictorial survey of the current global flux of humanity, Migrations follows Latin Americans entering the United States, Jews leaving the former Soviet Union, Africans traveling into Europe, Kosovars fleeing into Albania and many others. The images address suffering while revealing the dignity and courage of the subjects. With his unique vision and empathy, Salgado gives us a picture of the enormous social and political transformations now occurring in a world divided between excess and need.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior was a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.
He traveled in over 120 countries for his photographic projects. Most of these have appeared in numerous press publications and books. Touring exhibitions of his work have been presented throughout the world.
Salgado was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant in 1982, Foreign Honorary Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992; and the Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in 1993. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts at the Institut de France since April 2016.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For any one who is not familiar with Sebastião Salgado, he is a Latin American social documentary photographer and photojournalist. He has traveled all over the globe for his photographic work, capturing so many elements of life, this collection focuses on Migration.
Capturing the demographic change of the world around us, from wars, natural disasters, environmental degradation and the huge raise in the global population, following Latin Americans entering the United States, Jews leaving the former Soviet Union, Africans traveling into Europe, Kosovars fleeing into Albania, and many others. The images, when entering your mind they don't want to leave, ever. They are stunning, beautiful, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, disturbing, but most important, they are important, and rise so many questions on how the developed world should be doing far much more to help. Absolutely shot every time to perfection. He is photographic genius, a man who has touched the lives of those who live in horror and bloodshed. The scope of what he is able to capture just goes beyond words, so here I will stop.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobering and devastating photography.

[Bradley Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Banker sees the effects of money and poverty in the world and becomes one of the greatest photographers of ALL TIME. You've seen many of these images before without realizing it because Salgado can make the worst conditions in the world into a beautiful composition. I had the opportunity to get a signed copy of this book when I saw him speak at Town Hall in Seattle, as well as seeing these images projected 40 ft wide on the screen. He rarely talks about the photography, but rather the subject matter. Truly a master and definitely his best book. BUY IT TODAY.

[Beatrice De Filippis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transfixing. Hard. Absorbing.

In the 1990s Sebastião Salgado documented the history of human migration in 35 countries: people fleeing wars, genocide, poverty; people following a dream of a better life or just the hope of finding drinkable water or rudimentary medical care.
People were phagocytized by jungles of cement or dirt, deserts and seas. People were forgotten in the circles of human indifference, walking abysmal distances of miles with nothing but strength and faith to keep them going. Not even that.

The human condition in Exodus tears you apart. Each photo, in a different pamphlet, is historically and geographically contextualised, explained.
Exodus is a historical testament, a fundamental book for understanding how we got to the new century with such an embarrassing record of refugees and people possessing nothing but fear and deprivation. People with no outlooks.

Amidst the horrors of history, Salgado produced a body of work that is almost impossible to match.
And, in most of his frames, there is a light that only poets at heart can catch.

[Enrique Barreiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sencillamente descomunal. Las fotografías y el relato de estas. Aunque puedo comprender la crítica que en ocasiones se hace a Salgado: compaginar la belleza de esas fotos con la dureza de las vidas que relatan me genera una sensación extraña. Algo así como de culpabilidad por disfrutar del libro.

[Andrew Blok · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this collection, Sebastião Salgado photographed the moving human populations of the earth. Across the globe, people move to flee war and poverty, to seek work, or to avoid famine or drought. Salgado photographs the conditions they're fleeing, the route they take and where they end up. This collection is a record of "humanity in transition" and all the issues that predicate and come along with that transition. Salgado's work is hard to view sometimes. Looking at the photos in this book was important for me and revealed the world in a new, clear, and sometimes disturbing light.

[Obed Arango · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well documented photography book that tell the story of human migration around the world at the end of 20 century and beginning of the 21 st century. Moreover Salgado has a book inside that explains picture by picture. I read the book every morning 4 to 6 pictures at the time and the explanation of Salgado. The book helps to understand the circumstances of migration and helps to think that as humans we need humanizing immigration laws. Most of times immigrants are criminalized and abused.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photography, as always. But also heartbreaking and sobering. I don't often read introductions, but Salgado's words are worth reading -- and sharing.

This work ties in well with the final unit on globalization in OER World History.

Rest in power, Sebastião Salgado.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning collection. Need say no more.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of photographs of forced human migration contains amoung the most painfully beautiful photos I have ever seen. A gift, during a time of great personal disappointment, these photos tend to remind one of their own great good fortune in being a middle class American.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal volume of black and white photographs by Salgado. The documentation of refugees and their displacement is done with compassion, sensitivity, and power. If you are unfamiliar with his work you can google him but the google images don't come close to his volume of photographs!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a powerful portrait of the world. Beautiful, haunting photographs with stories and descriptions to match. A little jumpy at times from one part of the world to another, but an amazing collection of how people move, responding to change and inevitably creating more.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Large-scale photographs of migrants/refugees - desperate humans trying to improve their lives.
The book is organized into 4 sections: displaced people in different locations, a specifically African section, rural flight to urban centers in Latin America, and Asia's recent giant cities.

[Nelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Su mirada es magnífica

[Chanti]

I've been wanting to get my hands on this one forever...

[Josiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing. This book opened my eyes to the refugees of my generation. I highly recommend this book.

[Isaac Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning photographs: from the familial, to the teeming masses of humanity, and the horrors