The silent drama of photography | Sebastião Salgado

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Begoña Laka Reviewer: Ion Zubizarreta

I'm not sure that every person here

Ez dakit hemen zaudetenak

is familiar with my pictures.

nire argazkiak ezagutzen dituzuen.

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

Zenbait argazki erakusten hasiko naiz

and after I'll speak.

eta gero egingo dut hitz.

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

Nire bizitzari buruz zerbait kontatu behar dizuet,

because we'll be speaking on this

berari buruz jardungo naizelako nire hitzaldi honetan.

during my speech here.

I was born in 1944 in Brazil,

Brasilen jaio nintzen 1944an,

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

Brasilen oraindik merkatu ekonomiarik ez zegoen garaian.

I was born on a farm,

Landetxe batean jaio nintzen,

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

bere lurren %50 baino gehiago oihana zen oraindik.

A marvelous place.

Leku zoragarria.

I lived with incredible birds, incredible animals,

Txori eta animalia harrigarriekin bizi nintzen.

I swam in our small rivers with our caimans.

Gure errekatxoetan kaimanekin egiten nuen igeri.

It was about 35 families that lived on this farm,

Landetxe hartan 35 familia bizi ziren

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

eta landetxean ekoiztutako guztia kontsumitzen genuen.

Very few things went to the market.

Oso gauza gutxi zihoan merkatura.

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

Urtean behin, merkatura joaten zen gauza bakarra

was the cattle that we produced,

guk hazitako behi-azienda zen.

and we made trips of about 45 days

45 eguneko bidaiak egiten genituen

to reach the slaughterhouse,

hiltegira heltzeko

bringing thousands of head of cattle,

milaka behi garraiatzen,

and about 20 days traveling back

eta beste 20 egun

to reach our farm again.

berriro landetxera bueltatzeko.

When I was 15 years old,

15 urte nituenean,

it was necessary for me to leave this place

leku hura utzi behar izan nuen

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

hiri askoz handiago batera joateko.

where I did the second part of secondary school.

Han amaitu nuen bigarren hezkuntza.

There I learned different things.

Han hainbat gauza ikasi nituen.

Brazil was starting to urbanize, industrialize,

Brasil urbanizatzen, industrializatzen hasia zen,

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

eta politikan sartu nintzen. Zertxobait erradikal egin nintzen.

I was a member of leftist parties,

Ezkerreko alderdien kidea nintzen,

and I became an activist.

eta aktibista egin nintzen.

I [went to] university to become an economist.

Unibertsitatera joan nintzen Ekonomia ikastera.

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

Ekonomian masterra egin nuen.

And the most important thing in my life

Eta nire bizitzaren gauza garrantzitsuena orduan gertatu zen baita ere.

also happened in this time.

I met an incredible girl

Neska zoragarri bat ezagutu nuen,

who became my lifelong best friend,

bizitza osorako lagunik minena bihurtu zena eta orain arte egin dudan gauza guztien partaide,

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

my wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado.

nire emaztea, Lélia Wanick Salgado.

Brazil radicalized very strongly.

Brasil guztiz erradikalizatu zen.

We fought very hard against the dictatorship,

Diktaduraren kontra gogor borrokatu ginen,

in a moment it was necessary to us:

guretzako beharrezkoa zen momentu baten.

Either go into clandestinity with weapons in hand,

Edo klandestinitatera joan, armak eskuan,

or leave Brazil. We were too young,

edo Brasiletik irten. Gazteegiak ginen

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

eta gure erakundeak erabaki zuen alde egitea komeni zitzaigula.

and we went to France,

Frantziara joan ginen. Bertan Ekonomian doktoretza egin nuen.

where I did a PhD in economics,

Léila became an architect.

Léila arkitekto egin zen.

I worked after for an investment bank.

Gero inbertsio-banku baten aritu nintzen.

We made a lot of trips, financed development,

Bidaia asko egin genituen. Garapena finantzatu genuen,

economic projects in Africa with the World Bank.

Munduko Bankuarekin ekonomia egitasmoak Afrikan.

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

Egun baten argazkigintzak nire bizitza guztiz inbaditu zuen.

I became a photographer,

Argazkilari egin nintzen, dena utzi eta argazkilari egin nintzen.

abandoned everything and became a photographer,

and I started to do the photography

Niretzako garrantzizkoak ziren argazkiak egiteari ekin nion.

that was important for me.

Many people tell me that you are a photojournalist,

Askok esaten didate argazki-kazetaria naizela,

that you are an anthropologist photographer,

argazkilari-antropologoa naizela,

that you are an activist photographer.

argazkilari-aktibista naizela.

But I did much more than that.

Baina hori baino askoz ere gehiago egin nuen.

I put photography as my life.

Argazkigintza nire bizitza egin nuen.

I lived totally inside photography

Argazkigintzan murgilduta bizi nintzen epe luzeko proiektuak garatzen.

doing long term projects,

and I want to show you just a few pictures

Zenbait argazki erakutsi nahi dizuet.

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

Nik parte hartu nuen gizarte proiektuen barrua ikusiko duzue.

that I went to, I published many books

Liburu asko argitaratu ditut argazki hauekin,

on these photographs,

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

baina batzuk bakarrik erakutsiko dizkizuet.

In the '90s, from 1994 to 2000,

90eko hamarkadan, 1994tik 2000ra,

I photographed a story called Migrations.

"Migrazioak" istorioaren argazkiak egin nituen.

It became a book. It became a show.

Liburu bat egin zen. Erakusketa bat egin zen.

But during the time that I was photographing this,

Baina nik argazki hauek egiten nituen bitartean,

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

sasoi oso gogorra bizi izan nuen, batez ere Ruandan.

I saw in Rwanda total brutality.

Erabateko basakeria ikusi nuen Ruandan.

I saw deaths by thousands per day.

Milaka hildako ikusi nituen egunero.

I lost my faith in our species.

Gure espeziearenganako fedea galdu nuen.

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

Ez nuen uste bizirik jarraitu ahal genuenik

and I started to be attacked by my own Staphylococcus.

eta neure estafilokoko propioak eraso egin zidan.

I started to have infection everywhere.

Gorputz guztian infekzioa izaten hasi nintzen.

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

Emaztearekin amodioa egitean, ez zen niregandik hazirik ateratzen.

I had blood.

Odola ateratzen zen.

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

Lagun baten medikua ikustera joan nintzen Parisera.

told him that I was completely sick.

Guztiz gaixotuta nengoela esan nion.

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

Luze aztertu ninduen eta hau esan zidan: "Sebastian,

you are not sick, your prostate is perfect.

zu ez zaude gaixo, zure prostata ezin hobe dago.

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

Gertatzen dena da horrenbeste heriotza ikusita, zu zeu ere hiltzen ari zarela.

You must stop. Stop.

Gelditu egin behar duzu. Gelditu.

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

Gelditu behar duzu, bestela hil egingo zara".

And I made the decision to stop.

Gelditzeko erabakia hartu nuen.

I was really upset with photography,

Oso haserre nengoen argazkigintzarekin, mundu guztiarekin,

with everything in the world,

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

eta jaiotetxera bueltatzea erabaki nuen.

It was a big coincidence.

Kointzidentzia handia izan zen.

It was the moment that my parents became very old.

Nire gurasoak zeharo zahartu ziren garaia izan zen.

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

Zazpi arreba ditut. Ni naiz familiako gizon gutxienetako bat.

and they made together the decision

Elkarrekin erabaki zuten lur hau Léila eta bioi ematea.

to transfer this land to Léila and myself.

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

Lur hau jaso genuenean, lurra ni bezain hilda zegoen.

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

Ume nintzenean, %50 baino gehiago euri-oihana zen.

When we received the land,

Lurra jaso genuenean, %0,5 baino gutxiago zen euri-oihan,

it was less than half a percent rainforest,

as in all my region.

eskualde osoan zen antzera.

To build development, Brazilian development,

Garapena sortzeko, Brasil garatzeko,

we destroyed a lot of our forest.

gure oihanaren parte handia suntsitu genuen.

As you did here in the United States,

Hemen, Estatu Batuetan, egin duzuen bezala

or you did in India, everywhere in this planet.

edo Indian, planetaren edozein lekutan.

To build our development,

Gure garapena sortzeko kontraesan ikaragarrira heldu gara.

we come to a huge contradiction

that we destroy around us everything.

Gure inguru osoa suntsitzen dugu.

This farm that had thousands of head of cattle

Landetxe honek, milaka behi zituenak,

had just a few hundreds,

ehunka batzuk baino ez zuen

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

eta ez genekien hauekin zer egin.

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

Léilari ideia sinestezina bururatu zitzaion, ideia zoroa.

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

Esan zuen: "zergatik ez duzu berrezartzen hemen zegoen euri-oihana?

You say that you were born in paradise.

Paradisuan jaio zinela esaten duzu. Eraiki dezagun paradisua berriz".

Let's build the paradise again.

And I went to see a good friend

Lagun on bat ikustera joan nintzen baso ingeniaria zena

that was engineering forests

to prepare a project for us,

guretzako proiektu bat prestatzeko

and we started. We started to plant, and this

eta lanari ekin genion. Landatzen hasi ginen.

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

Lehengo urtean zuhaitz asko galdu genituen, bigarrenean gutxiago

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

eta pixkanaka lur mortu hura berriz jaiotzen hasi zen.

We started to plant hundreds of thousands of trees,

Ehunka milaka zuhaitz landatzen hasi ginen,

only local species, only native species,

bertako espezieak baino ez, hango espezieak baino ez.

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

Suntsitutako ekosistema bera sortu genuen.

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

Bizitza berriz agertu zen modu sinestezinean.

It was necessary for us to transform our land

Gure lurra parke nazional bihurtzea ezinbestekoa zitzaigun.

into a national park.

We transformed. We gave this land back to nature.

Eraldaketa egin genuen. Lurra naturari itzuli genion.

It became a national park.

Parke nazionala egin zen.

We created an institution called Instituto Terra,

"Instituto Terra" deritzon erakundea sortu genuen

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

eta edonon dirua lortzeko ingurugiro-proiektu handi bat sortu genuen.

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

Hemen Los Angelesen, San Frantziskoko badian,

it became tax deductible in the United States.

Estatu Batuetan zerga-aitorpenean kengarria egin zen.

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

Dirua lortu genuen Espainian, Italian, Brasilen asko.

We worked with a lot of companies in Brazil

Brasileko enpresa ugariekin egin genuen lan proiektuan dirua jarri zutenak, gobernuarekin.

that put money into this project, the government.

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

Bizitza etortzen hasi zen, eta nik desio handi bat nuen

to come back to photography, to photograph again.

argazkigintzara bueltatzeko, argazkiak egiteko.

And this time, my wish was not to photograph anymore

Oraingoan nire nahia ez zen erretratatzea soilik animalia bat,

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

nire bizitza osoan erretratatu nuen bakarra: gu geu.

I wished to photograph the other animals,

Beste animaliak erretratatu nahi nituen, paisaiak erretratatu,

to photograph the landscapes,

to photograph us, but us from the beginning,

gu erretratatu, baina hasierako gu, naturarekin orekan bizi ginen garaietakoa.

the time we lived in equilibrium with nature.

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

Eta ekin nion. 2004 urtearen hasieran hasi nintzen

and I finished at the end of 2011.

eta 2011ko amaieran bukatu.

We created an incredible amount of pictures,

Irudi kopuru ikaragarria egin genuen.

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

Léliak nire liburu eta erakusketa guztien diseinua egin zuen.

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

Bera da erakusketen egilea.

And what we want with these pictures

Irudi horiekin nahi genuena zen

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

eztabaida sortzea planeta honetan jatorrizkoa denari buruz

and what we must hold on this planet

eta planetan gorde behar dugunari buruz.

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

Bizi nahi badugu, gure bizitzan orekaren bat izan nahi badugu.

And I wanted to see us

Geure burua ikusi nahi nuen

when we used, yes, our instruments in stone.

oraindik harrizko tresnak erabiltzen genituenean.

We exist yet. I was last week

Oraindik existitzen gara. Aurreko astean,

at the Brazilian National Indian Foundation,

Brasileko Indiar Fundazio Nazionalean egon nintzen.

and only in the Amazon we have about 110 groups

Amazonasen soilik 110 indiar talde inguru ditugu

of Indians that are not contacted yet.

oraindik kontaktatuak izan ez direnak.

We must protect the forest in this sense.

Zentzu honetan babestu behar dugu oihana.

And with these pictures, I hope that we can create

Irudi hauekin, espero dut sortu ahal izango dugula

information, a system of information.

informazioa, informazio sistema bat.

We tried to do a new presentation of the planet,

Planetaren aurkezpen berria egiten saiatu ginen.

and I want to show you now just a few pictures

Proiektu honetako irudi bakan batzuk erakutsi nahi dizkizuet, mesedez.

of this project, please.

Well, this — (Applause) —

Honen... (Txaloak)

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Eskerrik asko. Eskerrak benetan.

This is what we must fight hard

Honen alde borrokatu behar gara gogor orain dagoen eran mantentzeko.

to hold like it is now.

Baina bada beste alde bat denen artean berreraiki behar duguna,

But there is another part that we must together rebuild,

to build our societies, our modern family of societies,

gure gizartea, gure gizarteen familia modernoa.

we are at a point where we cannot go back.

Gauden momentu honetan ezin dugu atzera egin.

But we create an incredible contradiction.

Baina kontraesan ikaragarria sortzen dugu.

To build all this, we destroy a lot.

Hau dena eraikitzeko, asko suntsitzen dugu.

Our forest in Brazil, that antique forest

Brasileko gure oihana, antzinako oihan hura,

that was the size of California,

Kaliforniaren tamainakoa zena,

is destroyed today 93 percent.

gaur %93an desagertu egin da.

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

Hemen, mendebaldeko kostaldean, zuek zuen oihana suntsitu duzue.

Around here, no? The redwood forests are gone.

Hemen inguruan, sekuoia oihanak galdu egin dira.

Gone very fast, disappeared.

Arin galdu, desagertu.

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

Orain dela egun bi, Atlantatik hona nentorrela,

I was flying over deserts

basamortuen gainean hegaldatu nintzen, guk geure eskuekin sortutakoak.

that we made, we provoked with our own hands.

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

Indiak ez du zuhaitz gehiagorik, Espainiak ere ez.

And we must rebuild these forests.

Baso hauek berregin behar ditugu.

That is the essence of our life, these forests.

Beraiek dira gure bizitzaren bihotza. Arnasa hartu behar dugu.

We need to breathe. The only factory

Fabrika bakarra CO2a oxigeno bihur dezakeena basoa da.

capable to transform CO2 into oxygen,

are the forests.

The only machine capable to capture the carbon

Sortzen dugun karbonoa harrapatzeko gai den makina bakarra, etengabe,

that we are producing, always,

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

gutxitzen badugu ere, edozer egitean CO2 sortzen dugu,

are the trees.

zuhaitzak dira.

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

Zera galdetzen dut. Orain dela hiruzpalau aste,

we saw in the newspapers

egunkarietan ikusi genuen Norvegian milioika arrain hil direla.

millions of fish that die in Norway.

A lack of oxygen in the water.

Uretan oxigeno falta.

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

Neure buruari galdetzen diot, noizbait

we will not lack oxygen for all animal species,

ia animalia espezie guztientzako oxigenoa faltako zaigun,

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

gurea barne, oso zaila litzateke guretzako.

For the water system, the trees are essential.

Ur sistemarentzako, zuhaitzak funtsezkoak dira.

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

Adibide txiki bat emango dizuet, erraz ulertuko duzuena.

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

Zuek jende zoriontsuok, burua ilez beterik duzuenok,

if you take a shower, it takes you

dutxa hartzen baduzue, bi edo hiru ordu behar izango dituzue ilea lehortzeko

two or three hours to dry your hair

if you don't use a dryer machine.

lehorgailua erabiltzen ez baduzue.

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

Nirea minutu baten lehor dago. Antzerakoa da zuhaitzekin.

The trees are the hair of our planet.

Zuhaitzak planetaren ilea dira.

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

Euria jausten bada zuhaitzik ez dagoen lekuan,

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

minutu gutxi barru, ura ibaira heltzen da,

brings soil, destroying our water source,

lurra darama, ur iturburua suntsitzen du, ibaiak suntsitzen ditu,

destroying the rivers,

and no humidity to retain.

ez dago hezetasuna non atxikitu.

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

Zuhaitzak dituzunean, sustrai sistemak ura atxikitzen du.

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

Zuhaitzen adar guztiek, jausitako hostoek gune heze bat sortzen dute.

create a humid area,

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

Urak hilabeteak behar ditu ibaietara heltzeko

and maintain our source, maintain our rivers.

eta iturburuak mantentzen ditu, gure ibaiak.

This is the most important thing,

Hauxe da gauza garrantzitsuena

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

bizitzako edozein ekintzarako ura behar dugula ikusten dugunean.

I want to show you now, to finish,

Amaitzeko, irudi batzuk erakutsi nahi dizkizuet,

just a few pictures that for me

niretzako zentzu horretan oso garrantzitsuak direnak.

are very important in that direction.

You remember that I told you,

Esan dizuet

when I received the farm from my parents

nire gurasoengandik landetxea jaso nuenean

that was my paradise, that was the farm.

hura nire paradisua zela, hori zen landetxea.

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

Lurra guztiz akabatua, erosioa, lurra lehortu egin zen.

But you can see in this picture,

Baina irudi honetan ikus dezakezue hezkuntza gunea eraikitzen hasiak ginela

we were starting to construct an educational center

that became quite a large environmental center in Brazil.

Brasilen ingurumen-zentro nahiko handia bihurtu dena.

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

Irudi honetan puntu txiki asko ikusten dituzue.

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

Puntu bakoitzaren lekuan zuhaitz bat landatua genuen.

There are thousands of trees.

Milaka zuhaitz dago.

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

Hona hemen orain dela bi hilabete leku berean egindako argazkia.

two months ago.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)

I told you in the beginning that it was necessary

2,5 milioi zuhaitz landatu behar izan genituen,

for us to plant about 2.5 million trees

of about 200 different species

200 espezie desberdinetakoak, ekosistema hau berregiteko.

in order to rebuild the ecosystem.

Azken irudia erakutsiko dizuet.

And I'll show you the last picture.

We are with two million trees in the ground now.

Orain lurretan bi milioi zuhaitz ditugu.

We are doing the sequestration

Zuhaitz hauen bidez 100.000 tona karbono ari gara harrapatzen.

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

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

Lagunok, erraza da egiten. Guk lortu genuen, ezta?

By an accident that happened to me,

Gertatu zitzaidan istripua zela eta

we went back, we built an ecosystem.

atzera joan ginen, ekosistema bat berregin genuen.

We here inside the room,

Gela honetan gaudenok

I believe that we have the same concern,

uste dut kezka bera daukagula,

and the model that we created in Brazil,

eta Brasilen sortu genuen eredua hona ekar dezakegu.

we can transplant it here.

We can apply it everywhere around the world, no?

Munduan edozein lekutan gauza dezakegu.

And I believe that we can do it together.

Eta elkarrekin egin dezakegula uste dut.

Thank you very much.

Eskerrik asko.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)