Serra Pelada, Brasil

Artist Sebastião Salgado (Brazilian, 1944 - 2025)

Date1986; printed 1989

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall: 11 7/8 x 17 1/2 inches (30.16 x 44.45 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.2936

InscribedSignature Signed in artist's hand Back of Print Blindstamp Front of Print Copyright Back of Print

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DescriptionImage of men traveling up and down a vast hole at the base of a remote hilltop. Some of the men carry sacks up wooden ladders while others walk down muddy slopes. One man near the center of the image leans his back against a wooden post as he stands with his arms crossed.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This image records work in a large open-face gold mine in the Brazilian jungle. Photographer Sebastião Salgado spent several weeks at the site in 1986. He recorded precarious and overcrowded conditions as workers carried heavy sacks up and down the muddy cliff face sixty times per day, for twenty cents per trip. The photograph conveys Salgado’s powerful sense of formal beauty and deep sympathy for these subjects.

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