Endangered Paradise
Sebastião Salgado on the traces of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest
Sebastião Salgado traveled the Brazilian Amazon and photographed the unparalleled beauty of this extraordinary region for six years: the forest, the rivers, the mountains, the people who live there—an irreplaceable treasure of humanity.
In the book’s foreword Salgado writes: “For me, it is the last frontier, a mysterious universe of its own, where the immense power of nature can be felt as nowhere else on earth. Here is a forest stretching to infinity that contains one-tenth of all living plant and animal species, the world’s largest single natural laboratory.” This connection to nature is echoed in Renzo Piano’s bookstand design, of which he says it “is the simplest way to have the book in levitation. You do not even see the bookstand, you just see the book held in the air firmly. The open pages look like an albatros while flying.” Made from mild steel with powder coated painting, threaded central rods and rubber adjustable feet, the lectern was designed for the Amazônia project.
Salgado visited a dozen indigenous tribes that exist in tiny communities scattered across the largest tropical rainforest in the world. He documented the daily life of the Yanomami, the Asháninka, the Yawanawá, the Suruwahá, the Zo’é, the Kuikuro, the Waurá, the Kamayurá, the Korubo, the Marubo, the Awá, and the Macuxi—their warm family bonds, their hunting and fishing, the manner in which they prepare and share meals, their marvelous talent for painting their faces and bodies, the significance of their shamans, and their dances and rituals.
Sebastião Salgado has dedicated this book to the indigenous peoples of Brazil’s Amazon region: “My wish, with all my heart, with all my energy, with all the passion I possess, is that in 50 years’ time this book will not resemble a record of a lost world. Amazônia must live on.”
