/ARTS WEEKLY/BRITAIN: A World in Exodus Captured

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Beverly Andrews

LONDON, May 20 2003 (IPS) - The spread of the free market has brought prosperity and freedom for some. But for others rapid economic and political changes sweeping the globe today have brought only instability and misery.

A photographic exhibition currently on at London’s Barbican Gallery entitled ‘A World in Exodus’ looks at the plight of today’s migrants. The exhibition shows how impoverished individuals struggle to come to terms with a world which no longer has place for them.

‘A World in Exodus’ is the work of photographic legend Sebastio Selgado. The exhibition has been produced in partnership with Amnesty International. Taken over seven years in 40 different countries, the photographs convey an image of humanity on the move.

Many of the images are of fugitives forced from their native homes and now condemned to an existence of constant flight. "When I began this project I truly believed that humanity was evolving in a positive direction but what I was not prepared for (was) what followed," Selgado says in a note at the exhibition. "I became deeply apprehensive about the future of human nature and the world we live in."

The despair Selgado speaks of is easy to understand when you see the images displayed. Divided into several sections by country, these images taken together convey the consequences of man’s capacity for cruelty.

It may be Lebanon, a country shattered by civil war and plagued by the ways of its powerful neighbour, Israel. Or it may be the shattering aftermath of the disintegration of the former republic of Yugoslavia. These pictures take viewers behind newspaper headlines and into the lives of everyday people.

In one picture in Lebanon a child and grandmother are shown in the same frame. A glimpse perhaps of the country’s past and possible future. In another, a war-ravaged landscape is shown together with signs of rebuilding. These pictures show the consequences of war, but they also show a faint glimmer of hope for a more stable future.

This hope that appears in shots from Lebanon is completely lost in the pictures from Afghanistan. The images displayed here show almost unbearable suffering. One photograph shows for example a woman in pain as she struggles with an artificial limb, while her husband looks on in silence.

But despite the suffering on display, what is apparent is also Selgado’s determination to allow his subjects a degree of dignity. His photographs show a sympathy for the people whose pain he has captured that is often absent from the work of war-hardened photo-journalists.

This identification with the world’s dispossessed, which has always been an integral part of Selgado’s work, stems perhaps from his earlier career as an economist. Born in Brazil in 1944, Selgado trained and worked as an economist with the Brazilian government with the stated aim of trying to improve the lives of those who could no longer help themselves.

But when disillusionment set in he turned to photography, and with his new found passion he set out to create images of the lives of the world’s poorest communities – but which would also not represent them as victims.

The integrity of Sebastio Selgado’s work accounts perhaps for the international acclaim he has received through his long career. The major awards that have been lavished upon him include the Kodak City of Paris award. Twice he has been named photographer of the year by the International Circle of Photographers. Selgado was also a member of the legendary Magnum photographic agency from 1979 to 1994.

In ‘A World in Exodus’, the most harrowing section is perhaps the one which spotlights Rwanda. This was the land of some of the most barbarous atrocities in recent history.

Apparently peaceful rivers are shown littered with headless corpses. A white truck is pictured surrounded by several bodies. The photographs show a world gone mad, one which appears hell-bent on its own destruction.

But even in this hell, there are rays of hope. A man is seen sitting at his sewing machine in the middle of a crowded refugee camp. And there are faces of young children who seem to display an incredible determination to survive and carry on with their lives.

‘A World in Exodus’ is a disturbing look at those whose lives have been turned upside down by political upheaval. They tell the story of those who are likely to be forgotten by history. They remind us also of the untold suffering political upheavals can bring.