São Paulo – The Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado will hold his first exhibition in Saudi Arabia. The namesake show will open in Jeddah on Wednesday (27), at 7 pm, with the presence of the artist.
The exhibition, to be held at Haffez Gallery and set to be open for a month, will have a selection of 33 pictures taken by Salgado in different moments of his career. Admission is free.
On Saturday (23), Salgado attended a dinner offered in his honor by prince Sultan bin Salman bin Adbulaziz Al Saud, son the Saudi Arabia’s king and president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage.
As ANBA found out, representatives of the gallery and the Saudi government have been taken Salgado to visit sites that are part of the country’s historical heritage, such as the archeological site of Mada’in Saleh, in the Medina region. Also known as Al-Hijr, this was the first site in Saudi Arabia to be declared World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2008.
According to information gathered by ANBA, the Brazilian artist is widely admired in Saudi Arabia. The country’s government is working to encourage and develop photography among the population. Annually, the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage organizes a large photo contest in which several works are awarded.
Sebastião Salgado was born in city of Aimorés, Minas Gerais. He started his career as a professional photographer in 1973 in Paris, later working in photo agencies such as Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos.
The artist already travelled to more than one hundred countries for his work and was awarded several prizes, such as the World Press (Holland, 1985), Oscar Barnack (Germany, 1985 and 1992), Erna and Victor Hasselblad (Sweden, 1989) and the photojournalism award of the International Center of Photography (USA, 1990).
One of his most famous projects is the Genesis, started in 2004 and that presents a series of photos of landscapes, wildlife and human communities that continue to exist as in ancient times.
Sebastião Salgado Exhibition
Where: Haffez Gallery
3rd Floor, Bougainvillea Center, King Abdulaziz Road, Jeddah, Arábia Saudita
Opening: 27 de abril, às 19h
Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday, from 10 am to 9 pm; Saturdays, from 5 pm to 9 pm.
Admission free.
Further information: www.facebook.com/events/281154285548952/
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
