Michelle Nunes
Sebastio Salgado, Untitled
1985, gelatin silver print
Sebastio Salgado is a former economist who now uses photography to explore complicated topics like famine, woking conditions in third world countries, and most recently nature as it is untouched by humans.
I chose this particular image because, on many levels, it exemplifies complexities and juxtapositions that ignite emotion in me every time I see it. I never imagined famine could be made so visually beautiful until seeing this image. The subject in the foreground, whom I believe to be a mother (with her two children), appears both like as provider of life and a visual portrayal of death. Considering Salgado's images of famine, it consistently takes my breath away. The two children, staying close for protection, seem as though they are being lead into a vast nothingness, a heartbreaking visual. The counterbalance of the subjects in the background in the vast white emptiness and the turned head of the young girl keep my eyes circling back to the foreground before looking back on her again. The composition keeps me in the frame, living the moment, until I force myself to look away. This mastery of composition elicits a deep sense of empathy, which seem to deliberately invite the viewer to become involved in other ways long after seeing the image.
I chose this particular image because, on many levels, it exemplifies complexities and juxtapositions that ignite emotion in me every time I see it. I never imagined famine could be made so visually beautiful until seeing this image. The subject in the foreground, whom I believe to be a mother (with her two children), appears both like as provider of life and a visual portrayal of death. Considering Salgado's images of famine, it consistently takes my breath away. The two children, staying close for protection, seem as though they are being lead into a vast nothingness, a heartbreaking visual. The counterbalance of the subjects in the background in the vast white emptiness and the turned head of the young girl keep my eyes circling back to the foreground before looking back on her again. The composition keeps me in the frame, living the moment, until I force myself to look away. This mastery of composition elicits a deep sense of empathy, which seem to deliberately invite the viewer to become involved in other ways long after seeing the image.
