The exhibition features more than 200 photographs that were taken by the artist over more than seven years.
Sebastião Salgado has spent decades documenting life on Earth through photography. He has portrayed places of absolute poverty, where humanity seems to take on an abysmal force. He has travelled to more than 100 countries to carry out photographic projects and in 2014 he released the documentary The Salt of the Earth, co-directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Now he has just inaugurated ‘AMAZÔNIA’, a travelling exhibition in Barcelona that portrays the largest area of biodiversity on the planet: the Amazon. A place full of beauty that holds a particular magic and to which Salgado travelled on several occasions over the course of seven years.
What we can see in the exhibition
‘AMAZÔNIA’ features more than 200 photographs – most of them large-format – seven films and a soundtrack composed for the occasion by Jean-Michel Jarre. In it, the musician used sounds from the Amazon from the archives of the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva.
Jutaí River. State of Amazonas, Brazil, 2017. Editorial credit: ©Sebastião Salgado.
The exhibition invites us to reflect on the delicate situation of this part of the planet with a vast territory that extends over nine countries in South America. Over the years, it has been losing its indigenous population and the area has become the victim of a constant depredation of its biodiversity. Every year, farms are expanded, destroying the territories of the peoples. ‘These images bear witness to what survives before it disappears even further. For life and nature to escape further destruction and depredation, it is the duty of every human being on the planet to participate in their protection,’ say Lélia Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado.
Mariuá river archipelago, Negro river. State of Amazonas, Brazil, 2019. Editorial credit: ©Sebastião Salgado.
The ambitious photographic project shows the beauty and grandeur of this region and highlights the importance of preserving it. In the photographs we can see tropical areas, imposing skies with cloud formations, the Imerí mountain range – one of the most important in Brazil – and this Green Paradise with lushly branching trees. Alongside these landscape photographs, Salgado portrays the inhabitants of the Amazon: they tell us about their daily lives, discover their culture and share the problems they face. More than 310,000 indigenous people from different communities live there.
View of the exhibition in Barcelona. Editorial credit: Àngel García.
‘AMAZÔNIA’ exhibits the photographs in a dimly lit room, highlighting the illumination of the works. It also recreates spaces that resemble the indigenous dwellings known as ‘ocas’, where the videos with the testimonies of the indigenous communities are projected.
A travelling exhibition touring several countries
The exhibition arrives in Barcelona after a tour that has taken it to Madrid, Paris, Rome, London, Manchester, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Avignon, Zurich and Milan. In total, it has attracted one and a half million visitors. It can now be seen at les Drassanes Reials until 20 April 2025.
AMAZÔNIA’ has been curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, Sebastião Salgado’s wife. She is a Brazilian designer, set designer, art curator and ecologist.
