The silent drama of photography | Sebastião Salgado

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Mariona Badenas Reviewer: Pepe Segura

I'm not sure that every person here

No estic segur que cadascuna de les persones que avui estàn aquí

is familiar with my pictures.

estiguin familiaritzades amb les meves fotografies.

I want to start to show just a few pictures to you,

Vull començar ensenyant-vos unes quantes fotografies

and after I'll speak.

i després parlaré.

I must speak to you a little bit of my history,

Us he d'explicar una mica de la meva història,

because we'll be speaking on this

perquè parlarem sobre ella

during my speech here.

durant el meu discurs.

I was born in 1944 in Brazil,

Vaig néixer el 1944 a Brazil,

in the times that Brazil was not yet a market economy.

quan Brazil encara no tenia una economia de mercat.

I was born on a farm,

Vaig néixer a una granja,

a farm that was more than 50 percent rainforest [still].

un 50% de la qual era [i encara és] un bosc pluvial.

A marvelous place.

Un lloc meravellós.

I lived with incredible birds, incredible animals,

Vivia amb ocells increïbles, animals increïbles,

I swam in our small rivers with our caimans.

Em banyava en petits rius, amb els seus caimans.

It was about 35 families that lived on this farm,

Unes 35 families vivien en aquesta granja,

and everything that we produced on this farm, we consumed.

i tot el que produïem a la granja, ho consumiem.

Very few things went to the market.

Molt poques coses anaven al mercat.

Once a year, the only thing that went to the market

Una vegada a l'any, la única cosa que anava al mercat

was the cattle that we produced,

era el bestiar que produïem,

and we made trips of about 45 days

i feiem viatges d'uns 45 dies

to reach the slaughterhouse,

per poder arribar a l'escorxador,

bringing thousands of head of cattle,

portant milers de caps de bestiar,

and about 20 days traveling back

i uns 20 dies per tornar

to reach our farm again.

a la nostra granja.

When I was 15 years old,

Quan tenia 15 anys,

it was necessary for me to leave this place

va ser necessary que abandonés aquest lloc

and go to a town a little bit bigger -- much bigger --

i anés a un poble una mica més gran ―molt més gran―

where I did the second part of secondary school.

on vaig fer la segona part dels meus estudis d'educació secundària.

There I learned different things.

Allà, vaig aprendre coses diferents.

Brazil was starting to urbanize, industrialize,

Brasil començava a urbanitzar-se, a industrialitzar-se,

and I knew the politics. I became a little bit radical,

i jo vaig conèixer la política. Em vaig tornar una mica radical,

I was a member of leftist parties,

Era membre dels partits d'esquerres,

and I became an activist.

i em vaig tornar un activista.

I [went to] university to become an economist.

Vaig anar a la universitat per convertir-me en economista.

I [did] a master's degree in economics.

Vaig fer un Màster en Economia.

And the most important thing in my life

I la cosa més important de la meva vida

also happened in this time.

també va passar en aquell moment.

I met an incredible girl

Vaig conèixer una noia increïble

who became my lifelong best friend,

que va convertir-se en la meva millor amiga de tota la vida,

and my associate in everything that I have done till now,

i la meva sòcia en tot el que he fet fins ara,

my wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado.

la meva dona, Lélia Wanick Salgado.

Brazil radicalized very strongly.

Brasil es va radicalitzar molt.

We fought very hard against the dictatorship,

Vam lluitar molt en contra de la dictadura,

in a moment it was necessary to us:

en un moment, havíem d'escollir entre:

Either go into clandestinity with weapons in hand,

Anar a la clandestinitat amb armes a la mà,

or leave Brazil. We were too young,

o bé abandonar Brasil. Érem massa joves,

and our organization thought it was better for us to go out,

i la nostra organització va creure que era millor que sortíssim del país,

and we went to France,

i vam anar a França,

where I did a PhD in economics,

on vaig fer un doctorat en economia,

Léila became an architect.

Léila va esdevenir arquitecte.

I worked after for an investment bank.

Jo vaig treballar després per un banc d'inversions.

We made a lot of trips, financed development,

Vam fer molts viatges, vam finançar tasques de desenvolupament,

economic projects in Africa with the World Bank.

i projectes econòmics a Àfrica amb el World Bank.

And one day photography made a total invasion in my life.

I un dia, la fotografia va envair la meva vida.

I became a photographer,

I em vaig tornar un fotògraf,

abandoned everything and became a photographer,

vaig abadonar-ho tot i em vaig convertir en fotògraf,

and I started to do the photography

i vaig començar a fer fotografia

that was important for me.

que fos important per a mi.

Many people tell me that you are a photojournalist,

Moltes persones em diuen que sóc un fotoperiodista,

that you are an anthropologist photographer,

que sóc un fotògraf antropòleg,

that you are an activist photographer.

que sóc un fotògraf activista.

But I did much more than that.

Però vaig fer molt més que això.

I put photography as my life.

Vaig escollir la fotografia com a vida.

I lived totally inside photography

Vaig viure totalment dins de la fotografia

doing long term projects,

fent projectes a llarg termini,

and I want to show you just a few pictures

i vull mostrar-vos unes quantes fotografies;

of -- again, you'll see inside the social projects,

de nou, veureu l'interior dels projectes socials

that I went to, I published many books

en els quals vaig participar, vaig publicar molts llibres

on these photographs,

sobre aquestes fotografies,

but I'll just show you a few ones now.

però només us ensenyaré unes quantes ara.

In the '90s, from 1994 to 2000,

En els anys 90, des de 1994 fins al 2000,

I photographed a story called Migrations.

Vaig fotografiar una història anomenada "Migrations" (Migracions).

It became a book. It became a show.

Es va convertir en un llibre. Es va convertir en un espectacle.

But during the time that I was photographing this,

Però durant el temps que vaig fotografiar aquesta història,

I lived through a very hard moment in my life, mostly in Rwanda.

Estava passant per un moment molt difícil de la meva vida, bàsicament a Rwanda.

I saw in Rwanda total brutality.

A Rwanda, vaig veure una brutalitat total.

I saw deaths by thousands per day.

Vaig veure milers de morts cada dia.

I lost my faith in our species.

Vaig perdre la meva fe en l'espècie humana.

I didn't believe that it was possible for us to live any longer,

Vaig creure que era impossible que visquéssim més anys

and I started to be attacked by my own Staphylococcus.

i vaig començar a ser atacat pel meu particular Staphylococcus.

I started to have infection everywhere.

Vaig començar a patir infeccions per tot el meu cos.

When I made love with my wife, I had no sperm that came out of me;

Quan feia l'amor amb la meva dona, cap esperma sortia de mi.

I had blood.

Tenia sang.

I went to see a friend's doctor in Paris,

Vaig anar a veure un metge amic meu a Paris,

told him that I was completely sick.

i li vaig dir que estava completament malalt.

He made a long examination, and told me, "Sebastian,

Em va fer un examen llarg, i em va dir, "Sebastian,

you are not sick, your prostate is perfect.

no estàs malalt, la pròstata està perfecta.

What happened is, you saw so many deaths that you are dying.

El que passa és, que vas veure tants morts que tu mateix t'estàs morint.

You must stop. Stop.

Has de parar. Para.

You must stop because on the contrary, you will be dead."

Has de parar perquè, si no ho fas, moriràs.

And I made the decision to stop.

I vaig prendre la decisió de parar.

I was really upset with photography,

Jo estava molt molest amb la fotografia,

with everything in the world,

amb tot en el món,

and I made the decision to go back to where I was born.

i vaig prendre la decisió de tornar a on vaig néixer.

It was a big coincidence.

Va ser una gran coincidència.

It was the moment that my parents became very old.

Va ser el moment en què els meus pares es van tornar molt vells.

I have seven sisters. I'm one of the only men in my family,

Tinc set germanes. Jo sóc l'únic home en la meva familia,

and they made together the decision

i van prendre junts la decisió

to transfer this land to Léila and myself.

de transferir la terra dels meus pares a la Léila i a mi.

When we received this land, this land was as dead as I was.

Quan vam rebre aquesta terra, estava tan morta com jo.

When I was a kid, it was more than 50 percent rainforest.

Quan jo era un nen, més del 50% era un bosc pluvial.

When we received the land,

Quan vam rebre la terra,

it was less than half a percent rainforest,

menys del 50% era bosc pluvial.

as in all my region.

com en tota la meva regió.

To build development, Brazilian development,

Per afavorir el desenvolupament, desenvolupament de Brasil,

we destroyed a lot of our forest.

vam destruir molt el nostre bosc.

As you did here in the United States,

Com ho vau fer aquí als Estats Units,

or you did in India, everywhere in this planet.

o vostè a l'Índia, a tot arreu en aquest planeta.

To build our development,

Per construir el nostre desenvolupament,

we come to a huge contradiction

arribem a una gran contradicció

that we destroy around us everything.

que destruim tot el que ens envolta.

This farm that had thousands of head of cattle

Aquesta granja, que tenia milers de caps de bestiar,

had just a few hundreds,

ja només tenia uns quants centenars,

and we didn't know how to deal with these.

i no sabíem què fer-ne amb ells.

And Léila came up with an incredible idea, a crazy idea.

I a la Léila se li va ocórrer una idea increïble, una idea boja.

She said, why don't you put back the rainforest that was here before?

Ella va dir, per què no recuperes la selva que estava aquí abans?

You say that you were born in paradise.

Dius que vas néixer en el paradís.

Let's build the paradise again.

Anem a construir una altra vegada el paradís.

And I went to see a good friend

I vaig anar a veure un bon amic

that was engineering forests

que era enginyer de boscos

to prepare a project for us,

per a què preparés un projecte per nosaltres,

and we started. We started to plant, and this

i vam començar. Vam començar a plantar, i aquell

first year we lost a lot of trees, second year less,

primer any vam perdre una gran quantitat d'arbres, el segon any menys,

and slowly, slowly this dead land started to be born again.

i a poc a poc, a poc a poc aquella terra morta va començar a néixer una altra vegada.

We started to plant hundreds of thousands of trees,

Vam començar a plantar centenars de milers d'arbres,

only local species, only native species,

només espècies autòctones, només espècies natives,

where we built an ecosystem identical to the one that was destroyed,

i allà vam construir un ecosistema idèntic al que s'havia destruit,

and the life started to come back in an incredible way.

i la vida va començar a tornar d'una manera increïble.

It was necessary for us to transform our land

Va ser necessari que convertíssim la nostra terra

into a national park.

en un parc nacional.

We transformed. We gave this land back to nature.

Ens vam transformar. Vam retornar aquella terra a la natura.

It became a national park.

Es va convertir en un parc nacional.

We created an institution called Instituto Terra,

Vam crear una institució anomenada "Instituto Terra",

and we built a big environmental project to raise money everywhere.

i vam construir un gran projecte mediambiental per recaptar diners on fos.

Here in Los Angeles, in the Bay Area in San Francisco,

Aquí a Los Angeles, a la zona de la badia de San Francisco,

it became tax deductible in the United States.

es va convertir en deduïble d'impostos als Estats Units.

We raised money in Spain, in Italy, a lot in Brazil.

Vam recaptar diners a Espanya, a Itàlia, molt al Brasil.

We worked with a lot of companies in Brazil

Vam treballar amb moltes empreses al Brasil

that put money into this project, the government.

que van posar diners en aquest projecte, el govern.

And the life started to come, and I had a big wish

I la vida va començar a arribar, i jo tenia un gran desig

to come back to photography, to photograph again.

de retornar a la fotografia, de fotografiar una altra vegada.

And this time, my wish was not to photograph anymore

I aquesta vegada, el meu desig era no fotografiar més

just one animal that I had photographed all my life: us.

només un animal que havia fotografiat durant tota la meva vida: nosaltres.

I wished to photograph the other animals,

Desitjava fotografiar els altres animals,

to photograph the landscapes,

fotografiar els paisatges,

to photograph us, but us from the beginning,

fotografiar-nos, però des del començament,

the time we lived in equilibrium with nature.

quan encara vivíem en equilibri amb la natura.

And I went. I started in the beginning of 2004,

I vaig anar. Vaig començar a principis del 2004,

and I finished at the end of 2011.

i vaig acabar a finals del 2011.

We created an incredible amount of pictures,

Vam crear una quantitat increïble d'imatges,

and the result -- Lélia did the design of all my books,

i el resultat - Lélia va fer el disseny de tots els meus llibres,

the design of all my shows. She is the creator of the shows.

el disseny de tots els meus espectacles. Ella és la creadora de totes les exhibicions

And what we want with these pictures

I el que volem amb aquestes imatges

is to create a discussion about what we have that is pristine on the planet

és crear un debat sobre el que allò que encara tenim verge en el planeta

and what we must hold on this planet

i el que hem de preservar en aquest planeta

if we want to live, to have some equilibrium in our life.

si volem viure, tenir un equilibri en la nostra vida.

And I wanted to see us

I jo volia veure'ns

when we used, yes, our instruments in stone.

quan utilitzàvem, sí, els nostres instruments de pedra.

We exist yet. I was last week

Nosaltres encara existim. Vaig anar la setmana passada

at the Brazilian National Indian Foundation,

a la Fundació Índia Nacional Brasilera,

and only in the Amazon we have about 110 groups

i només a l'Amazònia tenim uns 110 grups

of Indians that are not contacted yet.

d'indis que no han estat contactats encara.

We must protect the forest in this sense.

Hem de protegir el bosc en aquest sentit.

And with these pictures, I hope that we can create

I amb aquestes imatges, espero que podem crear

information, a system of information.

informació, un sistema d'informació.

We tried to do a new presentation of the planet,

Hem intentat fer una nova presentació del planeta,

and I want to show you now just a few pictures

i vull mostrar-vos ara unes quantes imatges

of this project, please.

d'aquest projecte, si us plau.

Well, this — (Applause) —

Bé, això —(aplaudiments)—.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Gràcies. Moltes gràcies.

This is what we must fight hard

És per això que ens cal lluitar dur

to hold like it is now.

per tal de mantenir-ho en l'estat actual.

But there is another part that we must together rebuild,

Però hi ha una altra part que cal reconstruir junts,

to build our societies, our modern family of societies,

per construir les nostres societats, la nostra família moderna de societats,

we are at a point where we cannot go back.

ens trobem en un punt on ja no podem tornar enrere.

But we create an incredible contradiction.

Però creem una contradicció increïble.

To build all this, we destroy a lot.

Per a construir tot això, destruïm molt.

Our forest in Brazil, that antique forest

El nostre bosc al Brasil, aquell bosc antic

that was the size of California,

que era la mida de Califòrnia,

is destroyed today 93 percent.

avui s'ha destruït al 93%.

Here, on the West Coast, you've destroyed your forest.

Aquí, a la costa oest, heu destruït el vostre bosc.

Around here, no? The redwood forests are gone.

Per aquí, no? Els boscos de sequoies han desaparescut.

Gone very fast, disappeared.

S'han anat molt ràpid, han desaparegut.

Coming the other day from Atlanta, here, two days ago,

Venint l'altre dia des d'Atlanta, aquí, fa dos dies,

I was flying over deserts

vaig volar sobre deserts

that we made, we provoked with our own hands.

que nosaltres hem fet, que hem provocat amb les nostres mans.

India has no more trees. Spain has no more trees.

L'Índia no té més arbres. Espanya no té més arbres.

And we must rebuild these forests.

I cal reconstruir aquests boscos.

That is the essence of our life, these forests.

Són l'essència de la nostra vida, aquests boscos.

We need to breathe. The only factory

Hem de respirar. L'única fàbrica

capable to transform CO2 into oxygen,

capaç de transformar CO2 en oxigen,

are the forests.

són els boscos.

The only machine capable to capture the carbon

L'única màquina capaç de capturar el carboni

that we are producing, always,

que s'està produïnt, sempre,

even if we reduce them, everything that we do, we produce CO2,

fins i tot si podem reduir-lo, en tot el que fem, produïm CO2,

are the trees.

són els arbres.

I put the question -- three or four weeks ago,

Vaig fer la pregunta… fa tres o quatre setmanes,

we saw in the newspapers

vam veure als diaris

millions of fish that die in Norway.

milions de peixos que moren a Noruega.

A lack of oxygen in the water.

Manca d'oxigen en l'aigua.

I put to myself the question, if for a moment,

Em vaig fer a mi mateix la pregunta, si per un moment,

we will not lack oxygen for all animal species,

no ens faltés oxigen per a totes les espècies d'animals,

ours included -- that would be very complicated for us.

la nostra inclosa… això seria molt complicat per a nosaltres.

For the water system, the trees are essential.

Per al sistema d'aigua, els arbres són essencials.

I'll give you a small example that you'll understand very easily.

Us donaré un petit exemple que entendreu molt fàcilment.

You happy people that have a lot of hair on your head,

Vosaltres, gent feliç amb molt de cabell al cap,

if you take a shower, it takes you

Si us dutxeu, necessiteu

two or three hours to dry your hair

dues o tres hores per a què el vostre cabell s'assequi

if you don't use a dryer machine.

si no utilitzeu un secador.

Me, one minute, it's dry. The same with the trees.

Jo, en un minut, està sec. El mateix passa amb els arbres.

The trees are the hair of our planet.

Els arbres són el cabell del nostre planeta.

When you have rain in a place that has no trees,

Quan tens la pluja en un lloc on no hi ha arbres,

in just a few minutes, the water arrives in the stream,

en pocs minuts, l'aigua arriba al torrent d'aigua,

brings soil, destroying our water source,

porta sòl, destruint la nostra font d'aigua,

destroying the rivers,

destruint els rius,

and no humidity to retain.

i cap humitat per retenir.

When you have trees, the root system holds the water.

Quan es tenen arbres, el sistema d'arrels manté l'aigua.

All the branches of the trees, the leaves that come down

Totes les branques dels arbres, les fulles que cauen

create a humid area,

creen una zona humida,

and they take months and months under the water, go to the rivers,

i es necessiten mesos i mesos sota l'aigua, van pels rius,

and maintain our source, maintain our rivers.

i mantenen la nostra font, mantenen els nostres rius.

This is the most important thing,

Això és el més important,

when we imagine that we need water for every activity in life.

quan ens imaginem que necessitem l'aigua per a totes les activitats de la vida.

I want to show you now, to finish,

Vull mostrar-vos ara, per acabar,

just a few pictures that for me

unes quantes fotografies que per a mi

are very important in that direction.

són molt importants en aquesta direcció.

You remember that I told you,

Recordeu que us he dit,

when I received the farm from my parents

que quan vaig rebre la granja dels meus pares

that was my paradise, that was the farm.

allò era el meu paradís, allò era la granja.

Land completely destroyed, the erosion there, the land had dried.

Terra completament destruïda, erosionada, seca.

But you can see in this picture,

Però es pot veure en aquesta foto,

we were starting to construct an educational center

que vam començar a construir un centre educatiu

that became quite a large environmental center in Brazil.

que es va convertir en un gran centre pel medi ambient al Brasil.

But you see a lot of small spots in this picture.

Però veureu una gran quantitat de petites taques en aquesta foto.

In each point of those spots, we had planted a tree.

En cada punt d'aquestes taques, havíem plantat un arbre.

There are thousands of trees.

Hi ha milers d'arbres.

Now I'll show you the pictures made exactly in the same point

Ara mostraré les fotografies fetes exactament en el mateix lloc.

two months ago.

fa dos mesos.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

I told you in the beginning that it was necessary

Us he dit al principi que era necessari

for us to plant about 2.5 million trees

que plantéssim uns 2,5 milions d'arbres

of about 200 different species

d'unes 200 espècies diferents

in order to rebuild the ecosystem.

per tal de reconstruir l'ecosistema.

And I'll show you the last picture.

I mostraré la meva última imatge.

We are with two million trees in the ground now.

Tenim dos milions d'arbres al terra ara.

We are doing the sequestration

Estem segrestant

of about 100,000 tons of carbon with these trees.

unes 100.000 tones de carboni amb aquests arbres.

My friends, it's very easy to do. We did it, no?

Amics meus, és molt fàcil de fer. Vam fer-ho, no?

By an accident that happened to me,

Per un accident que vaig patir,

we went back, we built an ecosystem.

vam tornar, vam construir un ecosistema.

We here inside the room,

Nosaltres aquí dins l'habitació,

I believe that we have the same concern,

crec que tenim la mateixa preocupació,

and the model that we created in Brazil,

i el model que hem creat al Brasil,

we can transplant it here.

el podem transplantar aquí.

We can apply it everywhere around the world, no?

Es pot aplicar a tot arreu al voltant del món, no?

And I believe that we can do it together.

I crec que ho podem fer junts.

Thank you very much.

Moltes gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)