In Serra Pelada with Sebastião Salgado. Haunting black-and-white images of the Brazilian gold rush

For a decade, Serra Pelada evoked the long-promised El Dorado as the world’s largest open-air gold mine, employing some 50,000 diggers in appalling conditions. Today, Brazil’s gold rush is merely the stuff of legend, kept alive by a few happy memories, many pained regrets — and Sebastião Salgado’s photographs. This collection is a major document of modern history and an extraordinary photographic portfolio.

"What is it about a dull yellow metal that drives men to abandon their homes, sell their belongings and cross a continent in order to risk life, limbs and sanity for a dream?" - Sebastiao Salgado When Sebastiao Salgado was finally authorized to visit Serra Pelada in September 1986, having been blocked for six years by Brazil's military authorities, he was ill-prepared to take in the extraordinary spectacle that awaited him on this remote hilltop on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. 

Before him opened a vast hole, some 200 meters wide and deep, teeming with tens of thousands of barely-clothed men. Half of them carried sacks weighing up to 40 kilograms up wooden ladders, the others leaping down muddy slopes back into the cavernous maw. Their bodies and faces were the colour of ochre, stained by the iron ore in the earth they had excavated. After gold was discovered in one of its streams in 1979, Serra Pelada evoked the long-promised El Dorado as the world's largest open-air gold mine, employing some 50,000 diggers in appalling conditions. 

Today, Brazil's wildest gold rush is merely the stuff of legend, kept alive by a few happy memories, many pained regrets-and Sebastiao Salgado's photographs. Colour dominated the glossy pages of magazines when Salgado shot these images. Black and white was a risky path, but the Serra Pelada portfolio would mark a return to the grace of monochrome photography, following a tradition whose masters, from Edward Weston and Brassai to Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, had defined the early and mid-20th century. 

When Salgado's images reached The New York Times Magazine, something extraordinary happened: there was complete silence. "In my entire career at The New York Times," recalled photo editor Peter Howe, "I never saw editors react to any set of pictures as they did to Serra Pelada." 

Today, with photography absorbed by the art world and digital manipulation, Salgado's portfolio holds a biblical quality and projects an immediacy that makes them vividly contemporary. 

The mine at Serra Pelada has been long closed, yet the intense drama of the gold rush leaps out of these images. 

This book gathers Salgado's complete Serra Pelada portfolio in museum-quality reproductions, accompanied by a foreword by the photographer and an essay by Alan Riding
About the Author:

MEGAMUNDEN is a UK-based illustrator who has created illustrations for advertising, fashion, product design and publishing. He is a Senior Designer at design agency ILoveDust.

Diana McMahon-Collis is a tarot consultant and co-founder of the Tarot Association of the British Isles. She has written for numerous magazines and websites.

The photographer:

Sebastião Salgado began his career as a professional photographer in Paris in 1973 and subsequently worked with the photo agencies Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos. In 1994 he and his wife Lélia created Amazonas images, which exclusively handles his work. Salgado’s photographic projects have been featured in many exhibitions as well as books, including Other Americas (1986), Sahel, L'Homme en détresse (1986), Workers (1993), Terra (1997), Migrations (2000), The Children (2000) and Africa (2007).

The editor and author:

Lélia Wanick Salgado studied architecture and urban planning in Paris. Her interest in photography started in 1970. In the 1980s she moved on to conceiving and designing photography books and organizing exhibitions, numerous of them on Sebastião Salgado. Since 1994 Lélia Wanick Salgado has been the director of Amazonas images.

Earth eternal. A photographic homage to our planet in its natural state

On a very fortuitous day in 1970, 26-year-old Sebastião Salgado held a camera for the first time. When he looked through the viewfinder, he experienced a revelation: suddenly life made sense. From that day onward — though it took years of hard work before he had the experience to earn his living as a photographer — the camera became his tool for interacting with the world. Salgado, who “always preferred the chiaroscuro palette of black-and-white images,” shot very little color in his early career before giving it up completely.

Raised on a farm in Brazil, Salgado possessed a deep love and respect for nature; he was also particularly sensitive to the ways in which human beings are affected by their often devastating socio-economic conditions. Of the myriad works Salgado has produced in his acclaimed career, three long-term projects stand out: Workers (1993), documenting the vanishing way of life of manual laborers across the world, Migrations (2000), a tribute to mass migration driven by hunger, natural disasters, environmental degradation and demographic pressure, and this new opus, GENESIS, the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains, deserts and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society — the land and life of a still-pristine planet. “Some 46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis,” Salgado reminds us. “We must preserve what exists.” The GENESIS project, along with the Salgados’ Instituto Terra, are dedicated to showing the beauty of our planet, reversing the damage done to it, and preserving it for the future.

Over 30 trips — travelled by foot, light aircraft, seagoing vessels, canoes, and even balloons, through extreme heat and cold and in sometimes dangerous conditions — Salgado created a collection of images showing us nature, animals, and indigenous peoples in breathtaking beauty. Mastering the monochrome with an extreme deftness to rival the virtuoso Ansel Adams, Salgado brings black-and-white photography to a new dimension; the tonal variations in his works, the contrasts of light and dark, recall the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Georges de La Tour.

What does one discover in GENESIS? The animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the Antarctic and South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; African lions, leopards, and elephants; the isolated Zo’é tribe deep in the Amazon jungle; the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua; nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan; Nenet nomads and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle; Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra; the icebergs of the Antarctic; the volcanoes of Central Africa and the Kamchatka Peninsula; Saharan deserts; the Negro and Juruá rivers in the Amazon; the ravines of the Grand Canyon; the glaciers of Alaska... and beyond. Having dedicated so much time, energy, and passion to the making of this work, Salgado likens GENESIS to “my love letter to the planet.”

Whereas the limited Collector’s Edition is conceived like a large-format portfolio that meanders across the planet, this unlimited book presents a selection of photographs arranged in five chapters geographically: Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, Amazonia and Pantanal. Each in its own way, this book and the Collector’s edition — both edited and designed by Lélia Wanick Salgado — pay homage to Salgado’s triumphant and unparalleled GENESIS project.

The photographer:

Sebastião Salgado began his career as a professional photographer in Paris in 1973 and subsequently worked with the photo agencies Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos. In 1994 he and his wife Lélia created Amazonas images, which exclusively handles his work. Salgado’s photographic projects have been featured in many exhibitions as well as books, including Other Americas (1986), Sahel, L'Homme en détresse (1986), Workers (1993), Terra (1997), Migrations (2000), The Children (2000) and Africa (2007).

The editor and author:

Lélia Wanick Salgado studied architecture and urban planning in Paris. Her interest in photography started in 1970. In the 1980s she moved on to conceiving and designing photography books and organizing exhibitions, numerous of them on Sebastião Salgado. Since 1994 Lélia Wanick Salgado has been the director of Amazonas images.

An homage to Africa's people and wildlife

Sebastião Salgado is one the most respected photojournalists working today, his reputation forged by decades of dedication and powerful black-and-white images of dispossessed and distressed people taken in places where most wouldn’t dare to go. Although he has photographed throughout South America and around the globe, his work most heavily concentrates on Africa, where he has shot more than 40 reportage works over a period of 30 years. From the Dinka tribes in Sudan and the Himba in Namibia to gorillas and volcanoes in the lakes region to displaced peoples throughout the continent, Salgado shows us all facets of African life today. Whether he’s documenting refugees or vast landscapes, Salgado knows exactly how to grab the essence of a moment so that when one sees his images one is involuntarily drawn into them. His images artfully teach us the disastrous effects of war, poverty, disease, and hostile climatic conditions.

This book brings together Salgado’s photos of Africa in three parts. The first concentrates on the southern part of the continent (Mozambique, Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia), the second on the Great Lakes region (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya), and the third on the Sub-Saharan region (Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Mauritania, Senegal, Ethiopia). Texts are provided by renowned Mozambique novelist Mia Couto, who describes how today’s Africa reflects the effects of colonization as well as the consequences of economic, social, and environmental crises.

This stunning book is not only a sweeping document of Africa but an homage to the continent’s history, people, and natural phenomena.

Salgado’s Masterpiece: GENESIS – Earth Eternal. The companion volume to the world’s best-attended photo show

GENESIS is Sebastião Salgado’s love letter to the planet. It is the result of an epic eight-year expedition to rediscover the mountains, deserts, and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society—the land and life of a still pristine planet. The GENESIS project, along with the Salgados’ Instituto Terra, is dedicated to showing the beauty of our planet, reversing the damage done to it, and preserving it for the future.

On over 30 trips—by foot, light aircraft, boats, canoes, and even balloons, through extreme temperatures and in sometimes dangerous conditions — Salgado has created a collection of images showing us nature, animals, and indigenous peoples in such intense beauty it takes our breath away. The reach is truly global. Through Salgado’s lens, one discovers the animal species and volcanoes of the Galápagos; the penguins, sea lions, cormorants, and whales of the South Atlantic; Brazilian alligators and jaguars; and African lions, leopards, and elephants. We travel over icebergs in the Antarctic, the volcanoes of Central Africa, the ravines of the Grand Canyon, and the glaciers of Alaska. We encounter the Stone Age Korowai people of West Papua, nomadic Dinka cattle farmers in Sudan, Nenets and their reindeer herds in the Arctic Circle, as well as the Mentawai jungle communities on islands west of Sumatra.

In characteristic monochrome, Salgado’s painterly notes are perfectly tuned to these sublime scenes, capturing sweeping aerial panoramas as much as the most intricate details and textures, from a reptilian skin to the fur coat of the Nenet people of northern Siberia. The exquisitely reproduced images are arranged not by theme but rather conceived as a journey around the globe, immersing them in Salgado’s vision of the Earth’s mesmerizing scale, order, and beauty.

This two-volume SUMO-size edition is designed and edited by Lélia Wanick Salgado and numbered and signed by Sebastião Salgado. Quarter-leather bound, it is presented with a bookstand in cherry wood veneer designed by Tadao Ando and a clothbound caption book explaining each stunning shot.

Collector’s Edition of 2,500 copies (No. 501–3,000), numbered and signed by Sebastião Salgado.

The photographer:

Sebastião Salgado began his career as a professional photographer in Paris in 1973 and subsequently worked with the photo agencies Sygma, Gamma, and Magnum Photos. In 1994 he and his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado created Amazonas Images, which exclusively handles his work. Salgado’s photographic projects have been featured in many exhibitions as well as books, including Sahel, L'Homme en détresse (1986), Other Americas (1986), Workers (1993), Terra (1997), Migrations (2000), The Children (2000), Africa (2007), Genesis (2013), The Scent of a Dream (2015), and Kuwait, A Desert on Fire (2016).

The editor:

Lélia Wanick Salgado studied architecture and urban planning in Paris. Her interest in photography started in 1970. In the 1980s she began conceiving and designing the majority of Sebastião Salgado’s photography books and all the exhibitions of his work. Lélia Wanick Salgado has been the director of Amazonas Images since 1994.

The designer:

Tadao Ando (born in 1941) is one of the world’s most renowned contemporary architects. At first a boxer, he decided to pursue architecture two years after graduating from high school. He is the only one to have won the discipline’s four most prestigious prizes: the Pritzker, Carlsberg, Praemium Imperiale, and Kyoto Prize. Ando currently works from his native Osaka.

Curate your home. Print Set Salgado

This inspiring print set offers sixteen designs to transform a blank wall into a personalized display. Each set of sixteen images has been specially selected from the TASCHEN collection as the most loved, and most interesting, examples of Sebastião Salgado’s work.

The prints are packaged in a sturdy cardboard box and are suitable either for framing or as a poster.

This elegant, large-format volume presents twenty masters of photography via 300 extraordinary authorial photographs, providing a broad yet accessible overview of twentieth-century photography.

From Man Rays pioneering experimentations to the elegant and provocative fashion shots of Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts, this volume showcases masters of their craft across different photographic genres, from reportage and documentary to art and portraiture to fashion and glamour photography.

For each artist featured, a 22-page portfolio of their iconic images provides a comprehensive overview of their oeuvre.

Each section opens with an insightful introduction to the masters work and includes a concise biography of the photographer. Images are accompanied by insightful, engaging commentary from the specialist authors and contextualized by original essays that shed light on the stories, motivations, and techniques behind each shot.

Featuring a striking, elegant design and large format, Master Photographers brings a host of stunning works into sharp focus and incorporates a truly international cast of photographers.

From French masters such as Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson, to the wit and charm of Englishman Martin Parr, via the provocative oeuvre of Japanese photographer Araki Nobuyoshi, and the powerful portraits of Americans Walker Evans and Elliot Erwitt, this volume provides a fascinating insight into the work of the most innovative and important photographers of recent times.

A discerning introduction to and a celebration of the legendary masters of twentieth-century photography, this volume is perfect for amateurs and aficionados alike.

Master Photographers features the work of Araki Nobuyoshi, Gabriele Basilico, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, Mario Giacomelli, Mimmo Jodice, William Klein, Peter Lindbergh, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, James Nachtwey, Helmut Newton, Martin Parr, Herb Ritts, Sebastiao Salgado, and August Sander.

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Люди определившие фотоискусство 20-го века. Культовые снимки лучших фотографов своего времени. Знаменательные кадры и их создатели, разнообразие жанров и тематик. Все это собрано под одной обложкой в великолепно оформленном издании.

300 великолепных авторских фотографий от двадцатки лучших мастеров своего времени собрано в первоклассную крупноформатную книгу. Эта коллекция – прекрасный толковый обзор фотографии 20-го века. От новаторских экспериментов Ман Рея до элегантных и провокационных фешн-снимков Хельмута Ньютона и Херба Ритца, в этом солидном издании представлены работы двадцати легендарных фотографов, поистине мастеров своего дела в совершенно разных жанрах – от фоторепортажей и документальной фотографии до художественной и портретной съемки.

Портфолио каждого фотографа, представленного здесь, включает подборку его самых выдающихся снимков, информацию о его творческом наследии в целом, краткую биографию и комментарий к каждой из выбранных фотографий. Элегантный дизайн книги и ее большой формат позволяют в полной мере насладиться этими культовыми снимками. Вас ждут фотографии, сыгравшие ключевую роль в фотоискусстве, сформировавшие и превратившие этот жанр в то, чем он является теперь.

Вас ждет звездная двадцатка легенд фотографии -  Нобуёси Араки, Габриеле Базилико, Маргарет Бурк-Уайт, Роберт Капа, Анри Картье-Брессон, Робер Дуано, Эллиотт Эрвитт, Уокер Эванс, Марио Джакомелли, Миммо Йодиче, Уильям Кляйн, Питер Линдберг, Ман Рэй, Роберт Мэпплторп, Джеймс Нахтвей, Хельмут Ньютон, Мартин Парр, Херб Ритц, Себастио Сальгадо и Август Зандер.

Looking Africa in the face. An homage to the continent of contrasts