Photographic exhibition Genesis will be on display in Ljubljana
The exhibition, curated and designed by Lélia Wanick Salgado, is the result of the photographer's multi-year survey and draws together 245 spectacular black-and-white photographs of wildlife, landscapes, seascapes, and indigenous peoples - raising public awareness about the pressing issues of environmental and climate change.
Genesis, Salgado's third long-term series, can be viewed as a response to its predecessors Workers (1993) and Migrations (2000) which explored displaced populations and the relentless working conditions endured by men and women around the world. In Genesis, Salgado has chosen to move his main interest away from people and to focus on the pristine beauty of the earth and those living in harmony with it.
Forty-six percent of the land mass on earth is as intact as it was on the day it was created, having scarcely changed throughout its history. Within the space of eight years, Sebastião Salgado has undertaken 32 journeys in these regions in small propeller-driven aircrafts, on foot, by boat, in a folding kayak and a captive balloon. He has travelled through climatically extreme zones with rough terrain, far away from any civilisation. During his travels across the globe, he has documented arctic and desert landscapes, tropical rainforests, marine and other wildlife, and communities still living according to ancestral traditions. The exhibition is divided into five geographical regions: Sanctuaries, Planet South, Africa, Amazonia and Pantanal, and Northern Spaces. Together, the images form a stunning mosaic of nature in unspoiled grandeur. Through these photographs, Salgado pays homage to a fragile planet he believes we must all protect.
"Genesis is a quest for the world as it was, as it was formed, as it evolved, as it existed for millennia before modern life accelerated and began distancing us from the very essence of our being", says Lélia Wanick Salgado. "It is testimony that our planet still harbours vast and remote regions where nature reigns in silent and pristine majesty."
Due to the large size of the present exhibition the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, i.e. the Director Blaž Peršin and the Curator Marija Skočir, decided to display Genesis at two of MGML's venues to accommodate the exhibition in its entirety.
Genesis project has also given rise to an extensive accompanying programme. One of them will feature the Salt of the Earth biographical documentary shot by Wim Wenders and Julian Ribeiro Salgado. The first open-air screening is scheduled for the day after the exhibition opens, i.e. on 1 June, in Tivoli Park, where an outdoor cinema operated a long time ago. For the entire duration of the exhibition, the film will be shown in the City Museum twice a week.
Sebastião Salgado referred to the Genesis project as 'my love letter to the Planet'. Drawing on this idea and aiming to contribute to the conservation and restoration of the green environment not only on the global but also the local level, the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana has come up with a conservation initiative, bringing together the Environmental Protection Section of the Municipality of Ljubljana and Ecologists Without Borders. The initiative called My Love Letter to the Planet will offer every exhibition visitor an opportunity to actively participate in wood preservation in Slovenia and restoration of a clean living environment on both local and global levels. You can find out more about the initiative at www.mgml.si and through social media #lovelettertotheplanet.