VISUAL LITERACY:
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE EXHIBIT

Use the terms listed below to introduce Sebastião Salgado’s storytelling method.
“Exodus” is divided into five sections (see layout below).

Each exhibit section is made up of the following story-making elements:

Photograph: A photograph is an individual image. Although Salgado’s photos are arranged to communicate as a group, or to convey a flow of information, each image can and does stand on its own. Salgado is known, in fact, as a master of the individual image. An individual photo, in the context of “Exodus,” is a part of a larger story. (Please see the page that follows—“Exploring an Individual Image”—for additional suggestions on how to explore a photograph.)

Photo cluster: A photo cluster is a group of photographs that together forms a larger visual message and functions as part of a photo essay. A cluster can consist of anywhere from two-to-four images that feature interrelated subject matter.

Photo essay: A photo essay in “Exodus” is series of photographs set in a particular place, city, country, or region, which conveys the migration experiences of a group of people. For example, photographs taken in Afghanistan, Mexico City or Rwanda constitute, respectively, photo essays of 8 images, 9 images, and 39 images. These essays vary greatly in size because of the complexity of the experiences they each evoke. The exhibit’s first four sections contain anywhere from two-to-eight photo essays per section. A photo essay in this exhibit can be compared to a chapter in a book, or a story in a collection of related stories. (The final section of the exhibit, containing 40 individual portraits of children from all over the world, does not function as a typical photo essay. It works like an exhibit within the exhibit.)

Photo section: A photo section or an exhibit section is formed by combining all the photo essays in that area. For example, the exhibit’s first section conveys the many different types of migration that Salgado documented and contains eight photo essays. The following three sections focus on migrations in Africa (with five photo essays); Latin America (with six photo essays); and Asia (with two photo essays). The exhibit’s final section, as mentioned, contains portraits of children from all over the world. As a whole, the exhibit gathers images taken in forty countries over six years, and constitutes the long-term documentary story Salgado created.