Amazônia: The Exhibition of Sebastião Salgado’s Photographs in Milan

12 Mag 2023 – 28 Gen 2024

From 12 May to 19 November 2023, the photography exhibition Amazônia by Sebastião Salgado will be held at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan.

More than 200 photographs are on display, depicting the vegetation, rivers, mountains, and people of the Brazilian Amazon. It will be a full immersion in the forest, accompanied by a specially commissioned immersive soundtrack by Jean-Michel Jarre.

“For life and nature to escape further destruction and depredation, it is up to every single human being on the planet to take part in its protection” – Sebastião Salgado

Amazônia by Sebastião Salgado

With over 200 photographs on display, Amazônia is designed to offer a full immersion in the Amazon rainforest, inviting us to reflect on the need to protect it.

The exhibition revolves around two themes: photographs of landscape settings, and photographs of indigenous peoples.

The first part features the sections: Forest Overview, in which visitors are presented with the Amazon as seen from above; Flying Rivers, one of the most extraordinary and at the same time least known features of the rainforest; Tropical Storms; Mountains; The Forest, once called the ‘Green Hell’, now to be regarded as a unique natural treasure; and Islands in the Stream, the archipelago emerging from the waters of the Rio Negro.

The second group of photographs in the Amazônia exhibition is dedicated to the various indigenous peoples that Salgado has immortalised in his numerous trips, such as: the Awá-Guajá. With only 450 members they are considered as the most endangered tribe on the planet; the Yawanawá, who, despite being on the verge of disappearing, have regained control of their lands and culture, thereby prospering; up to the Korubo, who are among the tribes with the fewest contacts with the outside world. As a matter of fact, Salgado’s expedition in 2017 marked the first time that a team of documentary filmmakers and journalists spent time with them.

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The visit is accompanied by a specially commissioned immersive soundtrack from Jean-Michel Jarre that brings to life the sounds of the rainforest.

Two projection rooms are an integral part of the exhibition: one shows the forest landscape. Here photographs are accompanied by the sound of the symphonic poem Erosão, by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). The other room displays portraits of indigenous men and women, with specially commissioned soundtrack by Brazilian musician Rodolfo Stroeter.

As Sebastião Salgado says: “This exhibition aims to recreate the Amazon rainforest environment where I have lived, documenting and taking photographs, for seven years and to let visitors identify with and immerse themselves in both its lush vegetation and the daily life of its native populations. I am particularly happy to be back in Milan with this Amazônia exhibition. This city has always given much space to my work, offering citizens the opportunity to see photographs that testify to what remains of this immense endangered heritage. For life and nature to escape further destruction and depredation, it is up to every single human being on the planet to take part in its protection”.

The exhibition Amazônia bySebastião Salgado is promoted and produced by Comune di Milano|Cultura, Fabbrica del Vapore and Contrasto, in collaboration with Civita and General Service Security. It is curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, travel and life partner of this great photographer.

Zurich is the global partner for the entire international tour of the Amazônia exhibition.

Sebastião Salgado: Life

Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian photographer born in 1944, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Hestarted his career in Paris in 1973, working as a professional photographer with photo agencies until 1994, when he and his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado founded Amazonas images, an agency that deals exclusively with his work.

Salgado has travelled to more than 100 countries for his photographic projects, which have been published in numerous magazines and books such as Other Americas, 1986; Sahel: l’homme en détresse, 1986; Sahel: el fin del camino, 1988; An Uncertain Grace, 1990; Workers, 1993; Terra, 1997; Migrations and Portraits, 2000; Africa, 2007; Genesis, 2013; The Scent of a Dream, 2015; Kuwait, a desert on fire, 2016, and Gold, Serra Pelada Gold Mine, 2019. Lélia Wanick Salgado conceived, designed and edited each of his books as well as curated most of the touring exhibitions of these works, presented in museums and galleries around the world.

In 2013, the book De ma terre à la Terre (From my Land to the Planet), a narrative account of his life and career, was published. Some of Salgado’s travels and photographic projects are recounted in the documentary film The Salt of the Earth (2014), co-directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. It won the special prize for the “Un Certain Regard” section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and the César Award for Best Documentary Film in 2015. It was also nominated for Best Documentary at the 87th Academy Awards.

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Sebastião Salgado is a Godwill Ambassador of UNICEF and, among other distinctions, he was named an honorary member of the US Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received numerous photographic prizes and prestigious honours, such as the Grand Prix National (Ministry of Culture, France), the Príncipe de Asturias Prize for the Arts (Spain), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (Pio Manzù International Research Centre, Italy). He was appointed Comendador da Ordem do Rio Branco, Brazil, and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France (Ministry of Culture). In 2016, Salgado was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France and, in the same year, France named him Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. In 2018, he was made Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel by the Principality of Monaco. In 2019, he was elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (New York, USA), and was awarded the International Peace Prize of the German Publishers‘ Association (Germany).

Since the 1990s, Lélia and Sebastião have worked together on the restoration of part of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, in the Rio Doce Valley of the state of Mina Gerais. In 1998, they turned this land into a nature reserve and created the Instituto Terra. The Instituto is dedicated to a mission of reforestation, conservation, and environmental education.

To date, Instituto Terra has created a forest that is home to many varieties of plant and animal species typical of the Atlantic forest. Since 2010, it has also developed a programme called Olhos d’Água, which works to recover, protect, and conserve the water resources of the Rio Doce catchment area, restoring tens of thousands of springs.

INFO

12 Mag 2023 – 28 Gen 2024 Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan
OPENING HOURS

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Summeropening hours
(from 16 July 2023 through 31 August 2023)
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 12 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Closed on Monday

The ticket office closes one hour before closing time.

TICKET

Open Ticket € 16.00

Standard ticket € 14.00

Discounted ticket € 12.00: Disabled individuals – Over 65 – Teachers – Employees of the Municipality of Milan (with name badge) – Journalists with press card of the current year not accredited – Groups (minimum 7/maximum 20 people)

Special discounted ticket € 10.00: Discounted ticket for students (students from 6 to 19 years old; university students must show ID and/or University card) and holders of Card Musei Lombardia

Special discounted ticket € 7.00: Special discounted ticket for students Every Tuesday (except public holidays) for high school and university students

Discounted ticket € 5.00: Schools (up to a maximum of 25 students, 2 free tickets per group)

Family ticket €10.00 (1 or 2 adults + children from 6 to 18 years) – Adult €10.00 – Children €5.00 (under 5 years, free)

Free forchildren up to 5 years, ICOM members with valid membership card, licensed tourist guides, persons accompanying disabled visitors, staff of the Special Projects Unit and Fabbrica del Vapore, accredited journalists with valid press card, 1 group accompanying person, teachers accompanying schools (2 per group), invitation coupon holders.

Admission Reservation is compulsory for groups and schools and recommended for individuals at a cost of 1.50 € perperson

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