What is Amazônia?

Amazônia is a major exhibition by the legendary world-renowned and award-winning photojournalist Sebastião Salgado. This exhibition spotlights on the Amazon region and its ecosystems coming under the threat of deforestation and climate change. 

The Amazon is known as the “the lungs of the world”, a title that is not taken lightly, the whole world has to protect and conserve this very crucial and important region on planet Earth. Through Amazônia exhibition, visitors can view, feel, learn and understand the natural beauty, and majesty of the Amazon region. 

This exhibition also features the Indigenous communities who live in Amazon, with the Amazon, the largest rainforest on the planet, which many of us around the world would not know too much about or heard of them before.

Amazônia is making its highly anticipated debut in Asia-Pacific at the National Museum of Singapore from 22nd November 2024 to 2nd March 2025. This travelling exhibition transports visitors on a walk into the heart and soul of the Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s greatest ecosystems. 

Sebastião Salgado first showing at the National Museum of Singapore was in 2014, titled Genesis. A decade later, Amazônia continues conversations on the important topic of environmental conservation through Amazônia, a major new body of work arising from his decades-long engagement with the Amazon region.

Chung May Khuen, Director of the National Museum of Singapore, said, “The National Museum is proud to bring to Singapore the latest internationally acclaimed exhibition of works by Sebastião Salgado. The Amazon is deeply connected to the world’s climate and affects all of us, even in Singapore. Amid a heightened awareness and urgent call for greater climate action today, we hope that visitors will be inspired by Salgado’s remarkable photos and the exhibition’s message to appreciate and take action to protect our natural world while respecting and learning from the Indigenous peoples who live in, and with, the rainforest.”

Amazônia  – An Immersive and Meticulously Curated Exhibition

Amazônia is a multi-sensory, immersive and meticulously curated exhibition, curated and designed by Lelia Wanick Salgado. There are over 200 photographs on display, there is a beautiful  soundtrack by Jean-Michel Jarre, that makes your visit to Amazônia very soothing and therapeutic. 

Further more, there are two projection rooms, video testimonies from Indigenous leaders, a special segment known as Amazônia Touch that allows the visually impaired to appreciate the Amazônia exhibition, through tactile image plates. 

There is a space dedicated Instituto Terra, it’s the reforestation non-governmental organisation founded by the Salgados. 

Lélia Wanick Salgado, Curator and Exhibition Scenographer of Amazônia said, “Immersion is a big part of the curatorial process of this exhibition. By integrating visitors into the lush greenery of the rainforest and raw portrayals of the everyday lives of its Indigenous people, I hope to present a multidimensional look at the beauty of the Amazon, and impress on visitors the human and ecological elements at stake if we don’t take action to protect it.”

Take a walk into the Amazon rainforest

A visit to Amazônia brings you on a majestic journey through the lands of the Amazon, through the breathtaking photographs on display, you can see and also feel the natural wonders and phenomena of the Amazon rainforest in its own unique nature, stature and importance to planet Earth.

The Amazon region complex ecosystems such as freshwater archipelagos and “flying rivers”, are presented through more than 200 evocative black-and-white photography prints. Moreover, there are slide projections, documenting its vibrant landscape and the lives of people living within Amazon region. 

It’s more than just a majestic visual spectacle of Mother Nature’s natural wonders, it also shows the fragility in the same measure. Salgado hopes that this serves as an important call for everyone of us on planet Earth to conserve the “lungs of the world”.

Salgado said, “The Amazon rainforest is full of life, and is in itself an important lifeline for our world. The exhibition is a record of what remains of this vast and vulnerable heritage amid an uncertain future. It is our shared responsibility to conserve it and I hope that the exhibition will inspire the community to take action to prevent this exhibition from becoming a testimony of a lost world 50 years from now.”

Tulsi Naidu, CEO Asia Pacific of Zurich Insurance Company Ltd – the main global partner of Amazônia – said, “Zurich’s longstanding global partnership with Sebastião Salgado reflects our commitment to climate action and a sustainable future. Through the Zurich Forest project, launched in 2020 in collaboration with the Salgados, we’ve helped restore parts of the Brazil Atlantic Forest by planting one million trees with Instituto Terra. We are now also supporting Instituto Terra in the acquisition of additional land for nature restoration and the construction of a new, larger nursery. In the Amazônia exhibition, Sebastião Salgado’s powerful photography – beautifully curated by Lélia Wanick Salgado – is a striking reminder of the urgent need to protect the natural world and its communities.”

Aerial View: The Amazon Seen from Above: A bird’s eye view of the Amazon. Experience sweeping aerial panoramas of majestic waterfalls and storm-laden skies.

Flying Rivers: Watering the Continent: Where water vapour from trees forms massive aerial rivers that are even bigger than the Amazon River, it’s Amazon’s unique atmospheric phenomenon. 

Tropical Storms: When It Rains in the Rainforest: When it rains in the rainforest, the amount of heavy tropical downpours/storms can be dramatic when you see brooding clouds looming above the horizon.

Mountains: Unexpected Uplands in the Lowlands: View Brazil’s mist-draped peaks rising above the rainforest canopy on the lower slope. 

The Forest: A Source of Fear and Inspiration: The rainforest can be very daunting (if you have visited before), it’s sometimes known as the “Green Hell”. However, it is now seen as an extraordinary natural treasure that must be protected. 

Anavilhanas: Island in the Stream: View breathtaking images of the archipelago of 350 to 450 islands of every imaginable shape rising from the waters of Rio Negro. 

Learn and understand more about the diverse Indigenous communities in the Amazon

You can also discover and learn more about the diverse indigenous communities in the Amazon, which many of us around the world would not know too much about or heard of them before. 

Keep a lookout for the three structures modelled after traditional Indigenous homes called ocas. Within that space, visitors can explore 100 photographs of the 12 Amazonian communities that Salgado engaged. There are also video interviews with the Indigenous leaders that complement this exhibition segment.

Immersive and therapeutic audio experiences at Amazônia

Enter into a soothing and therapeutic experience with an immersive audio experience by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre when you are visiting Amazônia, they bring you into a sensory experience of the Amazon through a symphony of natural sounds – rustling trees, animal calls, bird songs and gushing waters from the mountain tops, as well as voices and songs of the communities, drawn from the Museum of Ethnography’s sound archives in Geneva.

Continue your journey into two projection rooms where you can watch forest landscapes and portraits of Indigenous people, accompanied by soundscapes by Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Rodolfo Stroeter. 

Amazônia Touch

A special section, the first photographic volume specifically designed for the blind and visually impaired visitors to Amazônia, in partnership with Visio Foundation, an institution dedicated to promoting cultural inclusion of blind and visually impaired persons. There are a series of tactile images rendered on brass plates and complemented by 21 panels made of acrylic resin and natural minerals, for visitors to engage with.

Instituto Terra

Visit this dedicated space featuring the work of Instituto Terra, the reforestation non-governmental organisation founded by the Salgados. 

Our own Singapore Story on Environment and Sustainability 

The National Museum of Singapore aims to encourage and engage visitors to Amazônia to respond to the themes of the exhibition in relation to Singapore’s local environmental landscape through the Eco Sanctuary.

Eco Sanctuary – Themed Interactive Space 

A themed interactive space furnished with elements inspired by the rainforest, engaging visitors on touch, hearing and smell through the following below:

Touch and Feel: Interact with a series of artworks created by local artist Justin Lee. Check out the laser-cut wooden model of a Terrapin and a clay mould of a Custard Apple, inspired by the flora and fauna from the National Museum of Singapore’s William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings.

Can you hear me?: Listen to the evocative sounds of Amazonian instruments such as the Pica-Pau and Bacururu de Palha, and compare them to instruments such as the angklung and guiro.

Scents and Sensibility: Immerse yourself in nature-inspired scents e.g. rain forest wood and grass.

Reflection Zone: At the end of your visit to Amazônia and Eco Sanctuary, take some time to reflect and write down your thoughts, feelings and ideas on conservation and sustainability on magnetic leaves, how we can come together to advocate for and to take action towards the protection of the Amazon rainforest and also Singapore’s natural environment. 

My personal reflections from exploring Amazonia at National Museum of Singapore 

When I visited Amazônia exhibition, I immediately felt a close connection to the black and white landscapes of Amazon rainforest as I have also have my own black and white landscapes collection too.

As a self-taught photographer, I wasn’t formally trained in visual storytelling/photography. My learning were through reading National Geographic Magazines (when I was in primary school), as well as photography books on photography and photojournalism in my later years. Sebastião Salgado was one of those legendary photojournalists/visual storytellers that I looked up to in my own visual storytelling learning journey.

My love for nature and great outdoors, built upon my Scouting roots and heritage, along with my visual storytelling, I have been documenting changes to natural and urban landscapes, history, heritage, conservation, culture, not forgetting nature, great outdoors, trekking etc.

The rallying call to protect and conserve the “lungs of the world”, how can everyone of us play a part, no matter how big or small? How can everyone of us also play a similar role in our home country or other key nature areas in other parts of the world that also plays a role in the world that we live in? How can we further elevate the rallying call to the whole world on environmental protection and conservation, on Amazon, and also other key natural habitats and wonders of the world?  

Amazônia is deeply inspiring and getting me to think deeper and further on how everyone of us on Earth can do more for the home planet that we are living in. The time is now and upon us, the current generation to step up, be counted, take actions and make the crucial changes to save our precious home that we all live in – Earth.

I sincerely hope that I am able to inspire and encourage you (to also bring your family and friends) to come down and visit Amazônia at the National Museum of Singapore. View, feel, touch and experience Amazônia, and discover why everyone of us has a role to play in our world environmental conservation. 

Amazônia – An exhibition of photographs by Sebastião Salgado

Date: 22 November 2024 – 2nd March 2025

Timing: 10am – 7pm daily (last admission at 6:30pm)

Venue: National Museum of Singapore, Exhibition Gallery 1 and 2

Admission fee:

Visitor Advisory

Amazônia is about Amazon rainforest and its Indigenous people way of life. This exhibition features photography artworks that have male and female nudity, as well as contents that visitors might find challenging e.g. images of dead animals.

Visitor discretion is advised. 

Discount Code for Amazônia

For my readers, I have a discount code for Amazônia! 20% off All Access tickets purchased on National Museum of Singapore website.

Discount code: NMSxAmazonia [Maximum number of tickers per purchase is 10]

* Information courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore and Tate Anzur *

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