This was the main exhibit in the International Center of Photography. It was a collection of photographs taken by Sebastiao Salgado. They show Salgado’s findings in the mountains, in Africa, and within the arctic circle. I enjoyed looking at the photos of the mountains because they were so large and beautiful. My favorite was a photograph of a small mountain range and clouds above it, and behind the clouds I could see the base of an enormous mountain. The grandeur of such mountains impresses me.
I also liked that the photos that were hanging in one of the hallways were showing two completely different things. On one side, photos of Siberia depicted the cold climate and how people struggled to keep warm while traveling across an immense expanse of a frozen desert. On the other side, were photographs of the natives living near the equator. Unlike the people from Siberia, they were warm all the time. However, they lacked adequate food, shelter and tools (they still used stone tools). This setup of the two areas juxtaposed in one hallway, shows how close Salgado allows us to travel to see such different aspects of life, but I’m sure it took him a couple of days to go in between the areas.
This exhibit demonstrates the ways so many people live using black and white photographs and short descriptions. I am glad I made this afternoon excursion to this exhibit to view the findings Salgado’s excursion that took several years to make.
It’s kind of intriguing to see how the World Trade Center has such an effect on people in the last half of the century. From the time construction started in 1968, to its opening in 1973, to its tragic incident in 2001, and even extending to now in 2014, and to the future, World Trade Center is and will always be a symbolic representation of New York. This thought really hit me while I was on the E train today, one that was bound for none other than World Trade Center.
