And now a few words for Sr. Salgado

(I was working at a bookstore that year and picked up a copy of “Workers” and had all the kids in Photo class sign it and then we gave it to Mr. Baldwin because we figured he liked Salgado. Usually when photographers go to foreign countries and document poor working conditions or starvation or human rights violations or war, people don’t complain that the photographs might be too beautiful and idealize the situation. Not only does Salgado make art, he makes visual haikus that break you down until all that’s left is your eyes and whatever that part is that makes us human and wants so desperately to connect us with the other humans. That part doesn’t care where, or when, or why. It just wants us to see, that man is carrying a heavy bag of dirt, and no one is helping him, why isn’t anyone helping him? (Thank you for the present, Mr. Baldwin.))

A community above Chimborazo, Ecuador 1982
Day of the Dead, Ecuador 1982
Transporting bags of dirt in the Serra Pelada gold mine, Brazil 1986

All copyright Sebastiao Salgado, used without permission, sorry, I had to do it.