Photographer Sebastiao Salgado takes his exhibition ‘Amazonía’ to Brazil

São Paulo (AFP).- The photographer Sebastiao Salgado presented this Monday his exhibition Amazon in São Paulo, the first stop of a tour in Brazil of the exhibition with which it seeks to raise awareness about the preservation of the largest tropical forest in the world and indigenous communities.

Composed of more than 200 images resulting from seven years of work, the exhibition by the Brazilian, born in the state of Minas Gerais and living in Paris, was launched in May 2021 in the French capital and later presented in Rome and London.

Now it will be exhibited in the largest Latin American metropolis until July 10, and then it will move to Rio de Janeiro, where it will remain until January 2023before continuing the journey through capitals in the north and south of the country, such as Belén, Manaus and Belo Horizonte.

“These photographs represent the living Amazon, of the biome, of the indigenous communities, and not the dead Amazon, the destroyed one, that of rural properties,” described Salgado, 78.

“We want the exhibition to be a piece within the awareness movement” about this lung of the world, spread out mostly on Brazilian soil, he added together with his wife, curator and set designer, Lélia Wanick Salgado.

The black and white photographs condense an immersion in the jungle, with portraits of rivers, mountains and life in a dozen indigenous communities, accompanied by a musical composition that recreates the sounds of Amazonian nature.

Regarding the presentation for the first time in his country of origin, Salgado pointed out that “it is very important for Brazil, because the main action to protect it must take place here.”

But “the Amazon is no longer a matter of Brazil, but the whole planet has to protect it, that’s why the exhibition here and in Paris has the same value for us,” he told the AFP.

Although “not all the loss (in the Amazon) was made by this government, it” tries to destabilize the indigenous territories because they are located in the best agricultural lands, “said Salgado, referring to the executive of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

The photographer said he was “hopeful” that the next government, to be defined in the October elections, has a “greater concern” with the preservation of biomes. Deforestation has increased since Bolsonaro took office in 2019, reaching a maximum in fifteen years, with 13,235 km² logged in the period from August 2020 to July 2021.

Salgado asked the Brazilians “to pay attention to the candidate they are going to elect as the next president”, because “the candidates of the current Executive are profoundly anti-ecological and contrary to the indigenous communities”.

Editorial note THE UNIVERSE: “In Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest increased last month to the highest level recorded in history for a month of January.” According to https://www.democracynow.org/, “new data from the Brazilian government shows that the Brazilian Amazon has lost 430 square kilometers of tropical forest, an area that is seven times the size of Manhattan. Many environmentalists say deforestation is getting worse as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faces a tough election to win re-election in October.”