Salgado, Sebastião. Terra: Struggle of the Landless by Sebastião Salgado with additional texts by José Saramago and Chico Buarque.

Phaidon, 1997. Gray cloth, near very good with some light spots on cover, stamped “Phaidon-Non Mint Copy” on first blank page. Lacks dust jacket.  144 pages, large format. Photographs taken in Brazil by Salgado of workers, working class families, and children.  This book “is dedicated the thousands of landless Brazilian families who survive in makeshift encampments along the highways, struggling and hoping one day to win a piece of land on which they can be productive and live in dignity.” Summary:

Terra: Struggle of the Landless (1997) is a monumental work of advocacy photography by Sebastião Salgado, documenting the plight of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) in Brazil. The book is a powerful synergy of Salgado’s visceral black-and-white imagery, a haunting preface by Nobel laureate José Saramago, and poems/lyrics by the legendary Chico Buarque, all unified to give a global voice to the millions of Brazilians living in "internal exile."

Core Themes and Narrative

• The Dispossessed: Salgado documents the harsh reality of families living in roadside encampments, the brutal labor conditions of the latifúndios (large estates), and the violent conflicts over land reform.

• The Dignity of the Peasantry: Despite the poverty and "human erosion," the book emphasizes the profound dignity, organization, and spiritual resilience of the landless workers. It portrays them not as victims, but as an organized political force.

• The Biblical Exodus: Saramago’s text frames the struggle in epic, almost biblical terms, while Salgado’s compositions often mirror classical religious paintings, turning contemporary struggle into a timeless narrative of human rights.

Visual and Technical "Finish"

• Salgado’s "Silver" Epic: Salgado's black-and-white prints feature an extraordinary tonal range—deep, ink-like blacks and brilliant, sculptural highlights—that gives the mud and rags of the workers a metallic, heroic quality.

• The Wide-Angle Perspective: Salgado often uses a wide-angle lens to place his subjects within the context of the vast, unyielding Brazilian landscape, emphasizing the scale of the inequality and the isolation of the rural poor.