(Finance) – Beyond 200 photographs to propose a total immersion in the Amazon forest, inviting us to reflect on the need to protect it: the exhibition will open to the public on May 12, 2023 Sebastiao Salgado. Amazoniaat the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan until 19 November 2023. Promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan|Cultura, Fabbrica del Vapore and Contrasto in collaboration with Civita Mostre e Musei and General Service Security, the exhibition is curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado, travel and life companion of the great photographer. he forest of the Amazon occupies a third of the South American continent, an area larger than the entire European Union. It is a very rich and important heritage for our planet, to be protected and known.
Zurich is Global partner of the entire international tour of the Amazônia exhibition. The sponsorship of the exhibition – explains the note – is part of Zurich’s broader project to raise awareness of the urgency of concrete actions for the environment and is the extension of a consolidated partnership with the Instituto Terrathe non-profit organization of Lélia and Sebastião Salgado, with which the Company started the project Zurich Forest, for targeted and sustainable reforestation in Brazil and the conversion of barren agricultural land into native forests rich in plant and animal life.
“By drawing attention to the incomparable beauty of the Amazon, Salgado turns the spotlight on the urgency of protecting this vast area of South America and its inhabitants. The need to activate new management systems for the planet, safeguarding nature and biodiversity , concerns each of us, wherever we are in the world – declared the Councilor for Culture Thomas Sacchi –. The exhibition does not limit itself to documenting this reality, but forces us to take a stand, placing the visitor at the center of the debate and inviting him to reflect on the power and fragility of our planet. Fabbrica del Vapore is increasingly assuming a leading role in the contemporary world, expressing itself through the language of art, and this project represents a further stage in its important renewal process. The nature narrated in the exhibition in fact leaves the space of the Cathedral and extends to the courtyard, becoming the main paradigm of transformation of Fabbrica del Vapore into an increasingly open, sustainable place at the center of the debate on the urgencies of the world around us”.
“This exhibition aims to recreate the environment of the Amazon rainforest, which I lived, documented and photographed for seven years, giving the visitor the opportunity to identify and immerse themselves both in its luxuriant vegetation and in the daily life of the native populations. I am particularly happy to return with Amazônia to exhibit in Milan, the city that has always given a lot of space to my work, offering citizens the opportunity to see the images that bear witness to what remains of this immense heritage, which risks to disappear. In order for life and nature to escape further episodes of destruction and depredation, it is up to every single human being on the planet to take part in its protection”, he explains Sebastiao Salgado
“Sebastião Salgado, master of scientific and economic dissemination, taught us that with photography we can understand the world, travel through it, understand its profound dramas and its pristine beauty; and that his photographs can be the best way to explain the fragility to defend. The Amazônia project is proof of this. By following the thread of the images, arranged with great care in the space by Lélia Wanick, we learn to know the green and precious lung of our planet, to understand how we must preserve it, and how we can change the our way of acting to defend it.With Amazônia, and with the pleasure of returning to Milan, Salgado renews the tradition of great photography with a humanist framework which, between documentation and interpretation, shows us that there are no solitary dreams in history”, he underlines Roberto Koch, contrast editor.
For John GiulianiChief Executive Officer Zurich Italy “The arts are inextricably linked to the world around us and allow us to give greater prominence to the most urgent issues of the day. In this perspective, we believe that Sebastião Salgado’s latest work on the vital but fragile forest and the indigenous peoples who populate it is perfectly in line with our commitment to a sustainable planet and the fight against climate change.As signatories of the United Nations Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI), we are convinced that this exhibition, carefully curated by Léila, Sebastião’s wife, matches perfectly with us. Our vision is in fact in perfect harmony with that of Mr and Mrs Salgadoso much so that in 2020 we will join forces for an eight-year project aimed at restoring the Brazilian Atlantic Forest”.