New photography by Shannon Ruff captured with a digital camera-2007.

Partial View of the Climbing Ladders and Other Activities in the Gold Mine of Serra Pelada, Brazil

Artist Sebastião Salgado (Brazilian, born 1944)

CultureBrazilian

Date1986

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 20 13/16 × 13 7/8 in. (52.9 × 35.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 23 7/8 × 19 3/4 in. (60.6 × 50.2 cm)
Overall, Mat: 30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm)

InscribedSigned on verso: SS 08-50

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol. B. Frank

Object number2000.22.2

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print. Viewed from afar, masses of people are seen climbing ladders and other activities at the base of a cliff.

Label Textright Sebastião Salgado Brazilian, b. 1944 Serra Pelada, Brazil, 1986 Gelatin silver print (photograph), printed 1990s Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol. B. Frank 2000.22.2 Both of these photographs use grand views of nature to demonstrate the effects of mining, but their messages are worlds apart. On the right, Sebastião Salgado depicts a gold mine in Brazil notorious for its dangerous conditions, violence, and environmental devastation. Salgado created the dizzying view into the open mine swirling with workers and crowded ladders as a metaphor for the global economy’s human and environmental toll. The view on the left, made about 100 years earlier, shows a tipple, a device used to sort and transfer coal to trains for shipping. Likely commissioned by industrialist Samuel Crozer, the photograph may have been used convince investors about the site’s success. The laundry hanging in the left foreground suggests order and cleanliness amid the industrial scene. ProvenanceChrysler Museum of Art Purchase, 2000. Exhibition History"History of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, Fall, 2001. "The World of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008. "New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016.Published ReferencesSebastião Salgado; Eduardo Galeano and Fred Ritchin. AN UNCERTAIN GRACE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY SEBASTIÃO SALGADO. New York, N.Y.: Aperture. 1990.