Sebastião Salgado, Africa - Clippings

“Salgado's vision, expansive as the world itself, found fertile ground in Africa, where he has photographed in many nations over the past four decades. In this stunning book, which reveals a continent constantly remaking itself, is contained the reconciliation of opposites: beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow, love and hatred, war and peace. Here nomadic peoples tend herds of cattle, and indigenous tribal villages, still strong and vital to the country, exist in relative peace. In sharp contrast are people stunned by the degradations of war and exiled from their lands. Refugees walk windblown through the desert in search of succor. The faces of the victims of disease and famine are haunting, as are the portraits of children in Africa today—sharply contrasted with the boy soldiers of Angola he photographed in the 1970s. An image of women burning their house of exile before returning to their home speaks of hope and change. Salgado also explored the rich wildlife—a leopard drinking from a dark pool, a mother mountain gorilla nursing her baby, and zebras traveling the plains. The sadness of this beauty will overwhelm you.”
Black & White photography, New York, United States