The Salt of the Earth, 2014, is a profile of the prolific Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has an uncanny skill of interacting with his subjects, particularly Indigenous peoples, civilians affected by wars and those in precarious living situations.
Surprisingly, Salgado started as an economist working in Europe, where he took up photography without training. It did not take long for him to plunge into photography full-time. His initial projects focused on remote Indigenous peoples in South America, then other parts of the world. Always on the move, next projects documented work around the world, and those extinguishing fires in Kuwait following the war there. He then relentlessly went to dark areas of the world, showing the human impact of the war in former Yugoslavia, famine in Ethiopia and war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Understandably, those years seeing the absolute worst of humanity left him exhausted. He next turned to projects with a more environmental focus, capturing unspoiled areas from around the globe, which continues to be his main focus today.
More than most documentaries, the director, Wim Wenders, inserts himself directly into the narrative, incorporating himself into the story as he accompanies Salgado on a trip to Siberia to photograph wildlife there. Then there are sessions of Wenders and Salgado discussing his photography.
One of the threads of the work of both Wenders and Salgado is the use of religious naming, including the title of this video as well as some of Salgado’s books – Genesis and Exodus. They do not discuss the use of these weighted titles in the documentary and the reasons for their choices. Obviously, they feel some affinity to the religion of their youth and see their efforts as a continuation, secular or somehow tied to faith, of ideals that inspired their lives. Unfortunately, the topic was never developed.
Salgado continues to work today into his 80s so this book is not a complete overview of his projects. Regardless, he has shown a remarkable drive and curiousity. He has gone to war zones, disaster zones and the furthest corners where people live off any beaten track. In all these environments, he has engaged his subjects and took their photos with their consent, even in the most inhumane of situations they were experiencing.
Of all the projects profiled, the one that struck me the most was the tens of thousands of manual workers in an improvised gold mine in Brazil. Using nothing but the most basic tools, these treasure hunters appear like ants in an open pit. The sheer number of mud covered people crowded together in nothing more than loincloths was arresting in its human drama.
As is the case with Wim Wenders documentaries, they are homages to the subject. Certainly, it is warranted in this case but leaves aside critical questions needed for a deeper understanding of their work. Delving into those questions would have made the documentary more than it ended up being.
Surprisingly, Salgado started as an economist working in Europe, where he took up photography without training. It did not take long for him to plunge into photography full-time. His initial projects focused on remote Indigenous peoples in South America, then other parts of the world. Always on the move, next projects documented work around the world, and those extinguishing fires in Kuwait following the war there. He then relentlessly went to dark areas of the world, showing the human impact of the war in former Yugoslavia, famine in Ethiopia and war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Understandably, those years seeing the absolute worst of humanity left him exhausted. He next turned to projects with a more environmental focus, capturing unspoiled areas from around the globe, which continues to be his main focus today.
More than most documentaries, the director, Wim Wenders, inserts himself directly into the narrative, incorporating himself into the story as he accompanies Salgado on a trip to Siberia to photograph wildlife there. Then there are sessions of Wenders and Salgado discussing his photography.
One of the threads of the work of both Wenders and Salgado is the use of religious naming, including the title of this video as well as some of Salgado’s books – Genesis and Exodus. They do not discuss the use of these weighted titles in the documentary and the reasons for their choices. Obviously, they feel some affinity to the religion of their youth and see their efforts as a continuation, secular or somehow tied to faith, of ideals that inspired their lives. Unfortunately, the topic was never developed.
Salgado continues to work today into his 80s so this book is not a complete overview of his projects. Regardless, he has shown a remarkable drive and curiousity. He has gone to war zones, disaster zones and the furthest corners where people live off any beaten track. In all these environments, he has engaged his subjects and took their photos with their consent, even in the most inhumane of situations they were experiencing.
Of all the projects profiled, the one that struck me the most was the tens of thousands of manual workers in an improvised gold mine in Brazil. Using nothing but the most basic tools, these treasure hunters appear like ants in an open pit. The sheer number of mud covered people crowded together in nothing more than loincloths was arresting in its human drama.
As is the case with Wim Wenders documentaries, they are homages to the subject. Certainly, it is warranted in this case but leaves aside critical questions needed for a deeper understanding of their work. Delving into those questions would have made the documentary more than it ended up being.
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