A flyer from the 2012 London Sebastiao Salgato exhibit says “....to frame otherwise unseen realities...”. “Unseen” is the understatement in case of Salgato’s social work: the realities that he forces us to see are those that we know of but don’t want to do anything about: the poverty, the injustice, the abuse.
His goal is simple. He says “... I want the world to remember the photographs and the people I photograph”. Only that. He does not say, “I want you to do something”, he just wants us to remember.
Because the sins of not acting, the sins of neglect come from forgetting.
Because among many wars that are fought within our minds, one of the most devastating or uplifting (depending on its outcome) it the war within our memories. Collectively and individually.
In both cases the results define our ethics and therefore our destiny.
That’s why framing decides our humanity.
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