Essay on An Analysis of Sebastiao Salgaldo’s Migrations

An Analysis of Sebastiao Salgaldo’s Migrations Migrations: Humanity in Transition is an overwhelming photography exhibit, done completely in black and white, which is currently on display at the Ackland Art Museum on the University’s campus. The 300 photograph exhibit according to Simon James of RPS Journal, is the type of exhibit which clearly â€Å"takes a step back† from the disturbing details of individual problems around the world and paints a panoramic view of how harsh the entire universe has become (James, 2001). The photography is done by a photographer named Sebastiao Salgado and his specific style and calculated techniques allow him to direct the audience’s focus to particular subjects in his photographs. I believe that†¦show more content†¦The photograph that I chose to analyze is just one photograph in a series that Salgado hoped would give the world an idea of the magnitude of destruction that Rwandan refugees have faced over a three year period from 1994-1997. I was particularly drawn to a picture of a tractor plowing dead corpses into a pile in Rwanda because of the oddity of the circumstance and because of the focus on one particular woman in the photo. In the picture, the body of a woman wearing a white dress has been picked up by a tractor and is being transported to another pile of bodies. It is such a breathtaking photo that it takes the viewer a second to comprehend what they are looking at, and get their bearings before they can move on. I was immediately floored by the photo and then disgusted by its content. Mary Behrens, a writer for Art New England, said about Salgado’s exhibit, â€Å"I often felt like I was being clobbered over the head with simply too much statistical evidence: too much poverty, too much misery, too many orphans, too little food, and much too much human anguish† (Behrens, 2003). All of his photos in this exhibit are just as dis turbing as the next, and they lead the viewer to question the significance of the history behind them. According to The US Committee for Refugees (USCR), the feud between the Hutus and the Tutsis dates back to at least the late 1950s or early 1960s when the Hutus, who represent approximately 85