Third World Recorder

The first time I really felt what it must be like to be homeless was when I saw a picture taken by Sebastiao Salgado. I know that must sound terribly naive, but it’s true. We all see homeless on a daily bases, but how often do we really empathize with them? The middle class tends to despise the homeless because the average middle class family is only two paychecks from being on the street.

Born in’44, Salgado started his academic career studying economics at the University of Sao Paulo. He worked in the corporate world for a number of years, and even lent his financial management services to the World Bank. He was on the so-called “fast track” to a life of financial ease when he decided to take up photography.

In’73, he began producing documentary-type work for the Paris-based Gamma agency. After years of creatively rich and diverse work, he opened his own agency called Amazonas in’94. His photographs are raw, piercing, and absolutely gut-wrenching. They focus on the urban poor of the Third World.

His work in the salt mines of South America or the deserts of Africa has never been rivaled in terms of its brutal portrayal of reality. His black and white film seems closer to silver, opal, and onyx. His composition is grounded in a space between the dramatic and objective. It’s rare that a photographer can conjure the senses, but with his rich depth-of-focus makes it easy.

Criticism of his work more often than not involves his qualifications for representing the causes and effects of poverty worldwide. The World Bank has been directly and indirectly responsible for improvising most of the countries in the Third World. The fact he worked for this tyrannical institution lends credence to his ability to view the legacy of his former employer’s policies.

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