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many people. Such a photographer is the phers such as Salgado, many modern pho-
Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado. tographers have made their mark by
A self-taught photographer, Salgado has continuing the medium s proud tradition of
spent the last 25 years taking pictures of blazing new and imaginative trails.This has
armed conflict around the globe. He has been particularly true of Cindy Sherman,
gained his greatest acclaim thus far, howev- who has risen to international fame by
er, through the images that resulted from a producing images that have been termed
huge photographic project he conducted. true theatre.
In a world where new technology is In the 1980s Sherman created a sensa-
rapidly replacing old methods of working, tion when she compiled a series of 69 pho-
Salgado, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, tographs she called Untitled Film Stills. Her
took his camera to many nations to docu-
Manuel Alvarez
ment men and women still involved in
Bravo.Optical
manual labor. Published in 1993 in a book
Parable,1931.
titled Workers, Salgado s photographs depict
Bravo s genius can be
such scenes as thousands of laborers toiling found in the way he
portrays ways of life in
with pickaxes and shovels in a Brazilian gold
a casual yet powerful
mine (see page 130),other laborers working
manner.His messages,
the sulfur mines of Indonesia, and men dig-
wrote one critic, reach
ging the Channel Tunnel between England
us by slow and contin-
uous flight;little by lit-
and France. Since their publication, the pic-
tle they saturate us.
tures in Workers have been acclaimed as
offering a profound commentary on the
human condition while, at the same time,
providing a powerful tribute to labor.
Image Not Available
In the late 1990s Salgado added to his
growing reputation through another lengthy
photographic project.This time he traveled
throughout India and other developing
nations to capture unforgettable images of
people being dispossessed of their land.
Salgado has proved to be as much at
home capturing pictures of individuals and
landscapes as he is in recording huge groups
of people at work. Perhaps his greatest abil-
ity is the way in which, even while pho-
tographing scenes of general despair, he is
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MO D E R N P H O T O G R A P H Y " 1 3 9
purpose in creating the images was to sati- dressed herself in the ornate costumes typi-
rize the stereotypical ways women had cal of the clothing worn in the portraits she
long been portrayed in many movies. Sher- was satirizing.
man appeared in each of the photographs, Sherman s wide acceptance in the gen-
assuming such roles as a bored housewife, a eral art world is evidenced by the fact that
femme fatale, a rebellious teenager,and a vic- her photographs are included in major col-
tim of abuse. She left it to each viewer to lections of such prestigious museums as the
imagine a story line for each picture. Pompidou in Paris, the Museum Folkwang
Sherman followed up this provocative in Essen, Germany, and New York s Muse-
series by creating another one titled History um of Modern Art. As photohistorian
Portraits, designed once again to call atten- Revel Golden has noted, it is a success due
tion to the historic stereotyping of women. to Sherman s unique ability to produce
This time her subject was the world of art images, that shock us into reassessing cul-
rather than the world of movies. Her pur- tural icons that have become so ingrained
pose was to parody the ways artists from in daily life we have actually stopped ques-
the past had traditionally portrayed women. tioning their purpose.
Once again Sherman appeared in each Another of today s highly regarded pho-
photograph. She donned various wigs and tographers does not photograph people at
Cindy Sherman.Untitled Film
Still, 1977.
Sherman is the most prominent
feminist photographer,known for
images of herself in various
assumed roles.Here she is posed
as a young innocent in a poten-
tially dangerous situation,perhaps
about to be rescued by some hero.
Image Not Available
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P H O T O G R A P H Y / A N I L L U S T R A T E D H I S T O R Y " 1 4 0
Jerry Uelsmann.Apocalypse II,
1967.
Many of Uelsmann s images were
created not to impart information but
to challenge the viewer to bring his
own thoughts and perceptions to the
picture.This photograph was made by
combining several negatives and
printing them as a single image.
Image Not Available
all.William Wegman (see page 125) concen- began repeatedly to wander in front of the
trates on taking whimsical pictures of dogs, camera whenever he was taking a picture.
providing us with a delightful example of Rather than be upset, Wegman made a
the way humor has come to be accepted as bold decision;he would include the dogs in
a legitimate element in seriously conceived his photographs. It was an inspired move.
photographs. For more than 25 years Wegman has used a
A graduate of the Massachusetts College succession of dead-panned, sometimes cos-
of Art, where he studied painting,Wegman tumed Weimaraners as the stars of hundreds
turned to photography in 1966. In 1970 of images acclaimed not only for their
two events took place that were to change humor but for the more serious,often satir-
the course of his career.While attending a ical message the viewer is apt to find in
party he came across a plate of salami.Fasci- each picture.
nated with the small specks of peppercorn From the earliest serious, no-nonsense
on the salami slices,he constructed a photo- images of those who sat before the
graph, which he titled Catto, in which the daguerreotype camera to William Weg-
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