NEWS

Note: To download images, see end of release.

See release No. 21 for sidebar on related events.

By MARIA GLOEGGLER
Ackland Art Museum

CHAPEL HILL – In 1993, Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado began a photographic investigation into mass migrations at the end of the 20th century, focusing his lens on the plight of the dispossessed.

In six years he visited more than 40 countries. He photographed refugees on the road and in the camps and urban slums where they lived, documenting their struggles and migrations for the world to see. His photographs tell the real story about humanity in transition, a story from which, in Salgado’s words "We cannot afford to look away."

From Feb. 1 through March 28, the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University will host a traveling exhibition of 300 of Salgado’s resulting photographs, "Migrations: Humanity in Transition" and "The Children." About a third of the photographs will be displayed at the center and two-thirds at the Ackland.

The exhibition’s dual title mirrors the names of Salgado’s two books collecting the photographs. Aperture Inc. of New York, a not-for-profit arts institution that promotes photography, published the books and organized the exhibition. The artist’s wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, curated the exhibition, which debuted in 2001 at the International Center for Photography (ICP) in New York.

"As a state art museum, the Ackland must bring major traveling exhibitions here for the people of North Carolina," said Ackland Director Dr. Jerry Bolas. "The Salgado exhibition offers a significant opportunity to witness thought-provoking scenes from around the world and consider our relationships to them and responsibilities as citizens of the world. The exhibition also offers rich possibilities for interdisciplinary study and conversation across campus."

Beautiful and at times disturbing, each of Salgado’s photographs tells a human story about a place, time and set of circumstances many Americans never experience. Each documents not only a geopolitical situation, but also individual responses to these conditions. Museum visitors should note that, because of its subject matter, the exhibition includes graphic images of adults and children in conditions of disease, famine and death that some viewers may find unnerving.

Comprising photographs of the displacement of people due to war, environmental devastation or the promise of a better life elsewhere, the exhibition presents images from countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, China, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Mozambique, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Tanzania, the United States, Vietnam and the former Yugoslavia.

Asked what motivated her to bring the exhibition to the Ackland, exhibitions curator Barbara Matilsky said, "I saw the photographs in New York. It was the first time that I had tears during an exhibition. I experienced the power of these photographs and felt that people in the Triangle would respond to them as well."

Salgado urges us to look at these images not as isolated incidents happening in far away places but as events integrally connected to our own experiences. In a catalog accompanying the exhibition, he writes, "Everything that happens on earth is connected. We are all affected by the widening gap between rich and poor, by the availability of information, by population growth in the Third World, by the mechanization of agriculture, by rampant urbanization, by destruction of the environment, by nationalistic, ethnic, and religious bigotry. The people wrenched from their homes are simply the most visible victims of a global convulsion."

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent earthquake in Iran demonstrate that transitions continue to be part of life for many people. Carolyn Wood, assistant director for art and education at the Ackland, said the exhibition gives new insight into current events.

"When the Ackland decided to host the Salgado exhibition, we were moved by the poignant portrayal of dispossessed people from around the world," Wood said. "That was three years ago, and it is amazing and sad how similar the situation is today for people in many of the areas photographed."

Daily, the news media broadcast images of displaced people as part of a story. Many stories are brief, but the real suffering of people in transition continues.

"Salgado is a master as good as Henri Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams and Alfred Steiglitz," said elin O’hara slavick, artist, photographer and UNC associate professor of art. "But his vision and intent are what make him remarkable. Every photograph is quite stunning, formally and conceptually. It is almost disturbing to look at so many ‘still’ images of people in mass motion, leaving, becoming exiles, moving, being displaced, running away, escaping, trying to survive."

She predicted that the exhibition will trigger conversations on the modern role of the artist/photographer, how one person can bring about change through creative activity and the ethical questions of documenting the pain and suffering of others instead of, or before fixing, the problem.

The Ackland is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. For more information, call 919-843-1611 (recorded information), 919-966-5736 (museum office), 919-962-0837 (TTY) or visit the Web site at www.ackland.org.

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University is at 1317 W. Pettigrew St., off Swift Avenue in Durham. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. For more information, call 919-660-3663, check the Web at http://cds.aas.duke.edu/, or send email to docstudies@duke.edu.

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Note: Attached is a list of free public activities related to the exhibition that are being held at the Ackland and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Photos: To download images of two photographs in the exhibition, visit these URLs:

Image 8: © Sebastião Salgado/ AMAZONAS Images: With the men away in the cities, the women carry their goods to the market of Chimbote. Region of Chimborazo, Ecuador, 1998. "Migrations: Humanity in Transition," Aperture, New York, 2000, p.276-277.
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/ackland/Salgado_press.jpg

Image 5: © Sebastião Salgado/ AMAZONAS Images: The Natinga School camp for displaced Sudanese. Southern Sudan, 1995. "The Children: Refugees and Migrants," Aperture, New York, 2000.
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/ackland/Image5.jpg

Ackland contact: Maria Gloeggler, communications director, 919-843-3675, maria_gloeggler@unc.edu

Center for Documentary Studies contact: Lynn McKnight, associate director for programs and communications, 919-660-3663

UNC News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu