Gensis -"My love letter to the Planet" Salgado

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I’ve used a big photo of the cover of Sebastiáo Salgado’s latest book Genesis, because it is a big in size and scope! To be published in early April 2013, I’ve pre ordered my copy of this hardback edition with 17 fold-outs, 35 x 24cm in size and 520 pages. Published by Taschen who I’m sure will live up to their usual very high standards of production, at an exceptional price of €50 (€35 approx. from Amazon UK at time of writing). Of course you could go for the even bigger collectors edition but the standard edition will do me just fine. Large books can be difficult to handle and weight can become a problem.

The book is being launched to coincide with the opening of Salgado’s Genesis exhibition in the the Natural History Museum, London. This will run from April 11 through September 8, 2013. (details here ) and if the photos I saw in the Gallery of Photography in Dublin in 2012 are anything to go by they will be big and bigger 60x 40 inch and larger. So if in London between those dates it is a ‘must see’ if you are familiar with this photographer’s work.
Gensis is the result of an 8 year long project by Salgado to rediscover the mountains, deserts and oceans, the animals and peoples that have so far escaped the imprint of modern society. The book is arranged in five chapters geographically: Planet South, Sanctuaries, Africa, Northern Spaces, Amazonia and Pantanal. “Some 46% of the planet is still as it was in the time of genesis,” Salgado reminds us. “We must preserve what exists.”
If unfamiliar with Sabastiáo Salgado work, it may be worth pointing out that all previous books and exhibitions were in black and white. So if you expect to see some colour photography included in Genesis, especially considering it’s subject matter, you will be disappointed. Check out Omnibus documentary from1993
Artsy Salgado info page