Mountains, Rivers, and Jungles (Salgado Exhibit)

Salgado’s photography exhibit was effective at both depicting the environments and people  affected by climate change/human activity and doing so in an artistic way. Each photo could have been a painting; that is how convincing the lighting and angles were. Every frame carried consequence and the black and white color scheme seemed to pronounce its gravity even more. Focusing on just a few photos and really contemplating what they were depicting made me value the subject matter even more. One photo I was particularly struck by was a photo of a man in the Korowai tribe in West Papua, Indonesia constructing a tree home. He was standing on a diagonal wooden pole amidst towering bark columns held together by vine. As I looked at the man and his demeanor, I noticed how rough and weathered his skin looked, almost like the surface of the trees he was using to construct the home. To me it seemed as though Salgado was trying to link the man with the trees that served as the basis of his future home and livelihood, thus linking man and nature.  Scale was also something very apparent in Salgado’s pictures, with towering glaciers and tiny penguins and grand rock formations with seals.

Photography is very much a still medium but with the right expertise it can capture feelings and events in a moving way. I think Salgado accomplished this and was able to create something stirring to experience.