The Salt of the Earth- Sebastiao Salgado

‘Photo-graphein’, a widely used word without the understanding of its true meaning; photo meaning
light and graphein meaning writing. A photographer is someone who rewrites history using light and
shadow reflecting the story seen through his eyes during that minuscule span of second. One such
artist was Sebastiao Salgado, the undisputed master of monumental photojournalism whose whole
life, every hardship, achievement and success has been engulfed into this one French masterpiece
‘the salt of the earth’.

The documentary is filled with the brim of evidence of Salgado’s unique eye which reveals the
empathy and humanism as well as his enviable -joie de vivre- in everyday life which enables every
viewer to see things from a different perspective, his perspective. His indelible imagery has captured
some of the world’s most remote and tortuous locations; from widespread devastations in the
Ethiopian famine to the savagery of the Rwandan genocide.

The film began with one of the renowned pictures of Salgado, the Serra Pelada Gold Mine, Brazil.
This murky image depicted the history of mankind, their handwork and greediness to get rich. The
photo was clicked from the edge of an enormous hole which was flooded with thousands of people
crawling everywhere like rats in a colony. Seeing this monochrome seemed to open a door of
sadness into my mind making everything around me still and silent. Yet I felt a discomfort, a
discomfort of over 50,000 people murmuring from the huge sinkhole as if the souls of these people
were trapped and spoke to me through the drawing. However, it was later that I found out that
these people were not slaves but merely the folks living in the village, summoned by their demons of
greed to become prosperous. The narrator, Wim Wenders stated that “people chose their sacks on
their own, it could be a kilo of gold or rubble but the ones who got gold never came back”. This
statement is a mirror to humanity and shows us the extent till which human kind can travel for
wealth, disregarding everything including their families, their livelihood and even mortality by
stepping over people and crushing them under their feet marching up the mine.

The next leap in Salgado’s journey was Autres Ameriques (1977-1984), his first project based on
Latin America and the Theology of Liberation. The theology was a foundation of religious
movements arising in Roman Catholicism and was centred in Latin America. It sought to apply
religious faith by aiding the poor and oppressed through involvement in political and civic affairs.
Sebastiao worked amongst the tribal people and submerged within their everyday life. The first thing
he did was visit his hometown, Aimeris which is one of the largest iron ore mining areas in the world.
Rio Doce or so-called the sweet river is located at the edge of the town which emerges from the
Atlantis Forest and it is a marvellous place filled with biodiversity as far as the eyes can see. During
this we can see the nostalgia that is within Salgado’s eyes reminding him of the golden old days.
Mountains of the West Papua, Village Yali was his first stop where he came across the Tarahumara
tribe. They were a very backward tribe, hunting for food using arrows and clothed in leaves;
Moreover, they had various piercings over their body which were made using wooden branches. It
seemed terrifying but it was a tradition for them since ancient times. The houses they resided in
were made with huge palm leaves held together with branches. It sounds like an archaic way to libe
but on the contrary they were highly systematic. Salgado wanted to understand the tribes wholly
and so he started to observe them, participated in their rituals, dances and ceremonies regardless of
the language barrier they faced. The tribals saw him as a messenger of God due to his long blonde
hair and beard, they kept asking him about his camera and referred to it as a magic device. Sebastiao
further travelled to a number of locations and finally completed his project which was presented in
magazines, books, newspapers and various print medias.
 The life of Sebastiao was enclosed with numerous impediments which eventually led him to
the craft of photography. He had to make several sacrifices such as parting from his family
for long periods and leaning slightly towards poverty but it all paid off when his work was
recognized. His own son was immersed in cinematography and had played a major role in
directing this film. Furthermore, I chose this specific piece was to understand the true
meaning of ‘the salt of the earth’. Some say that the phrase is a biblical reference, Mathews
5:13, ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty
again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot’;
Others state that the title is dedicated to the photographer’s last name ‘Salgado’, meaning
saltiness in Portuguese. However, I believe that the true reason of the title is referred to
Sebastiao. Salt of the earth is defined as an individual or group considered as representative
of the best or noblest elements of society. The project was based on the theology of
liberation and presented people who were in need of help, it reflected the truth within the
tiniest of things unseen by the naked eye. Through these photographs numerous factors
were brought to observation and helped a lot of individuals to overcome their difficulties with
the help of a few political bodies.