GENESIS by Salgado, The Exhibition

Sebastião Salgado is a great artist and a man who has decided that art has a role towards humankind and nature. His astonishing photographs have an implicit and important message, their beauty tells us of the world in different perspectives and lets us have a glimpse of different realities from ours.
We think, because of our cultural education, that "our world" is the only one or the most developed, and absolute. This is not true, there are beauties, creatures and cultures that are so important as our civilization.
Rabarama

<<“Génesis” é uma jornada em busca do planeta como ele existiu, desde a sua formação e na sua evolução, antes que a vida moderna se acelerasse e nos afastasse do núcleo essencial. É uma busca das paisagens terrestres e aquáticas até hoje intocadas; uma viagem em direcção aos animais e grupos humanos que conseguiram escapar das transformações impostas pelo mundo contemporâneo. “Génesis” comprova que o nosso planeta ainda abriga vastas e remotas regiões onde a natureza reina em imaculada e silenciosa majestade.

Estas maravilhas foram encontradas nos círculos polares e em florestas tropicais, em extensas savanas e nos tórridos desertos, em montanhas geladas e ilhas desertas, lugares às vezes excessivamente gélidos ou escaldantes, onde apenas as mais resistentes formas de vida perseveram. Outros recantos tornaram-se lar de animais ou de povos ancestrais cuja sobrevivência depende fundamentalmente do isolamento em que se mantêm. O conjunto forma um esplendoroso mosaico da natureza em toda a sua grandiosidade original.

É essa beleza oculta, defendida, protegida que “Génesis” deseja compartilhar. Fazemos um tributo a esse nosso frágil planeta que temos o dever de proteger.>>

Lélia Wanick Salgado
Curadora

Além de trazer aos olhos do público a beleza de povos isolados e paisagens grandiosas, “Génesis” representa uma convocatória para a batalha.

O facto é que não podemos continuar a poluir o nosso solo, a nossa água e o ar. Precisamos agir de imediato para preservar terras e águas ainda intocadas, e para proteger o ambiente-santuário de animais e povos ancestrais.

E devemos ir além. Devemos tentar reverter os danos.

A nossa modesta contribuição foi reflorestar um terreno na região sudeste do Brasil. Nos últimos 15 anos, o Instituto Terra – a nossa organização sem fins lucrativos - plantou cerca de dois milhões de árvores, de mais de 300 diferentes espécies que já floresceram por lá. O resultado: encostas esgotadas e áridas ganharam uma vegetação exuberante. O renascimento deste microclima tropical atraiu, por sua vez, pássaros e animais que não eram vistos naquela área há décadas.

A reflorestação é uma das maneiras de recuperar o tempo perdido e o prejuízo causado. As árvores ainda desempenham o papel central na neutralização das emissões de dióxido de carbono responsáveis pelas alterações climáticas, como o aquecimento global. Leis e governos podem tentar controlar estas emissões, mas somente as árvores conseguem absorver o dióxido de carbono e produzir oxigénio. Cada árvore plantada alivia um pouco as nossas preocupações quanto ao futuro do planeta.

Lélia Wanick Salgado e Sebastião Salgado

Now exhibiting in Lisbon:

Cordoaria Nacional, Torreão Nascente – Galeria Municipal
April 10th to August 2nd, 2015

From April 10, Sunday to Thursday, from 10am to 7pm and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 9pm, Cordoaria Nacional, Torreão Nascente - Galeria Municipal (Avenida da India). Tickets: 5 euros (children up to 5 years old free).

Focusing on the last natural and human havens of a planet in peril, this exhibition consists of more than two hundred photographs, the result of eight years of work and more than 30 trips to various parts of the world.

Using black and white images in large format to create huge impact and beauty, Genesis is both a heartfelt tribute to planet Earth and a plea for the urgent need to preserve it.

www.expogenesis.pt
Terra Esplêndida, Produção Cultural |
TEL. (+351) 218 874 283 | (+351) 966 970 039
www.terraesplendida.com | www.facebook.com/terraesplendida

Hikari Kesho

Hikari Kesho is a great artistic photographer and his main inspiration is the female body.
We have collaborated to create an amazing shot of me in body paint emerging from one of my sculptures and also for some portraits and... (you will know...)

Rabarama photographed by Hikari Kesho

Hikari Kesho has developed a unique style for photographing female bodies, making personal researches on the theme of body expression. He uses often black and white with gothic contaminations and connects uniquely to the world of fetish fantasies.

Hikari Kesho artworks have been published in many books and magazines (Goliath books, Playboy, Blue magazine ) and in 2012 he was selected (the only italian photographer) for "The Art of Contemporary Shibari", a multi-media exhibit including still photography, video, and live performance art by Photographers, Riggers and Models for the Fotofest 2012 Biennial, the first international Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art in the United States. Hikari Kesho's photo "Observing the Stillness of Brenta River" was chosen to be the official poster of the Biennial.

Website: http://www.hikarikesho.com/

Official Facebook page 

Rabarama body painting and sculpture - photo by Hikari Kesho

You can also watch this video about the making of this shot:

Rabarama and Hikari Kesho: body art from Rabarama on Vimeo.

Nude silver bodies in Guido Argentini's art

by Usnea Lebending
In our culture we tend to sexualize almost all nudity, especially that of women. Yet, Los Angeles-based Italian photographer Guido Argentini has found a way to move beyond mere sexuality and elevate the human form in ways more reminiscent of Greek sculpture:

For this series (the culmination of over 20 years of work), Argentini used professional gymnasts, dancers, aerialists and other professional performers to combine the solidity of sculpture and the vivid energy of dance.  Each model was completely painted in a metallic body paint and then shot on a simple white background, often using only one light. With the paint, the shadows and the highlights of the skin are intensified, creating the illusion of liquid motion frozen into a still photograph. In many of the photos, the face is obscured or not shown, erasing the individual identity of the model and inviting the viewer to focus on the universal aspect of the human body.

Guido Argentini

Inspired by the abstract bronzes of Brancusi, the watercolors of Rodin, and the verve of Degas’ ballet sketches, Argentini has developed his own unique aesthetic of the human form—one which transcends the concepts of individualism and sexuality, inspiring instead an impersonal celebration of finesse and beauty. In a world that seems to be more and more sex focused, it’s inspiring to see body art that takes a different tact.

Although Argentum also includes male models, Argentini says, This book is, once again, a tribute to women.

(source: http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/argentum-body-art-photography/ )