There is the beauty and strength of indigenous peoples in their daily lives and celebrations, with artifacts, communal spaces, and expressions of a myriad of civilizations integrated into the environment. And there is the depiction of trees, animals, riverbanks, floodplains, and clearings. In the immensity and detail, in the powerful interplay of mineral, plant, and animal life, Sebastião Salgado's phrase resonates: "These are not landscapes. It is the biome." It is the whole.

The Amazon exhibition is the result of seven years of immersion by Sebastião and Lélia Wanick Salgado in the region that covers northern Brazil and extends to eight other South American countries, occupying a third of the continent; and 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil. The largest tropical rainforest on the planet, translated through the lenses and set design of the Salgados, becomes an invitation to information, reflection, and action in defense of the ecosystem essential to life on the planet. “When designing ‘Amazon,’ I wanted to create an environment where the visitor would feel inside the forest, integrate with its exuberant vegetation and with the daily life of the local populations,” comments Lélia.

Captured by air, land, and water, the images – practically all previously unseen – distributed across thematic sections, reveal the refinement and ingenuity of the region's peoples, some of whom have had very little contact – in 1500 they numbered 5 million individuals, and today they are reduced to less than 400,000. "Throughout the Amazon, the cultural sophistication [of the peoples] is colossal," says Salgado, who documented 12 ethnic groups (out of the nearly 200 remaining) for this exhibition.

The voice of Amerindian communities, in fact, can be effectively heard in seven videos that present testimonies from indigenous leaders, without intermediaries. These are impactful accounts about the importance of the land, the rivers, the Amazon rainforest, and the serious problems that threaten, among other things, the survival of individuals and ethnic groups. “This exhibition aims to fuel the debate about the future of the Amazon rainforest. It is something that must be done with the participation of everyone on the planet, together with indigenous organizations,” argues Sebastião Salgado.

In the exhibition space, the sound environment complements the view of the photographs with an original soundtrack by the Frenchman Jean-Michel Jarre, created at the request of the Salgado family based on the sounds of the forest.

The exhibition also features two spaces with photographic projections. One shows forest landscapes accompanied by the symphonic poem Erosion - Origin of the Amazon River, by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959); the other presents a sequence of portraits of indigenous people, set to a musical piece specially composed by Rodolfo Stroeter.

These images are a testament to what still exists and a warning about the terrible possibility of the disappearance of life and nature. To overcome extermination and destruction, information, participation, and engagement are the duty of everyone, across the entire planet.

Ricardo Piquet, CEO of the Museum of Tomorrow, emphasizes that the institution is in tune with the theme: "In 2022, the Museum of Tomorrow gives prominence to the Amazon through diverse programming ranging from exhibitions to debates. We aim to contribute to raising awareness of the importance of conserving the biome and the intangible heritage of the region. It is an honor to be able to bring to our public this unmissable exhibition by Sebastião Salgado, which opened a global path for the protection of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. It is impressive to be able to see his perspective, which brings us a rich and little-known vision of the forest and its peoples."

Terra Institute

At the end of the exhibition, visitors can explore the Instituto Terra in the space dedicated to the spectacular work of Lélia and Sebastião Salgado, which began in 1998 and involved the reforestation of approximately 600 hectares of Atlantic Forest in Aimorés (MG), planting millions of seedlings of endangered trees.

In addition to replanting and restoring the area – the land, the vegetation, the vital springs that ensure the continuity of life – the Institute trains specialized labor, empowering young ecologists to protect and conserve the region's biodiversity. And, of course, to replicate the project throughout Brazil. Currently, the project is exclusively sponsored by Zurich and aims to plant 1 million trees by 2028.