'Exodus' in black and white: wrenching photos of displaced world citizens on display at Library Square

BETWEEN APRIL 6 and July 16 of 1994, a genocide of unprecedented fury and swiftness washed over the African nation of Rwanda. When it was over, more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been butchered, another 2 million had fled the country, and another million were displaced.

The world witnessed these 100 days of depravity through newspaper and magazine reports and TV news: it was horrific and often unbearable to view, and we wondered at the time, what will happen to the exiles?

Today, the question remains, but is more encompassing; what becomes of all the displaced refugees throughout the world, devastated by not only war, but by famine, natural disasters and the widening gap between the rich and poor?

One of the more poignant answers to this query is "Exodus," a visually stunning, emotionally charged exhibit by international photographer Sebastiao Salgado, on display through Dec. 17 at The Leonardo at Library Square.

Presented by the Center for Documentary Arts, Salgado's inspiring black-and-white photographs chronicle the global movement of populations at the turn of the millennium.

Beginning in 1993, and continuing for the next six years, he worked among migrants, refugees and exiles across 40 countries in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia. He documented their places of origin, the circumstances of their flight and their uncertain destinations and destinies.

"Exodus," according to the exhibition essay, "is a reflection on the global phenomena that has broken down borders, created slums and refugee camps, and produced conflicts over employment and civil rights around the globe."

Born in 1944 in Aimores, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Salgado studied economics in his country and the United States. In 1971, he earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Paris. However, in 1973 — after borrowing his wife's camera — he traveled to Africa. The result of this photographic journey was Salgado changed careers: He became a photojournalist and today is known for his peerless images of man and his relationship to himself and the land.

Assembled and curated by his wife, Lelia Wanick Salgado, "Exodus" features 300 black-and-white photographs divided into five sections:

• Migrants and Refugees: The Survival Instinct

• The African Tragedy: A Continent Adrift

• Latin America: Rural Exodus, Urban Disorder

• Asia: The World's New Urban Face

• The Children: 40 portraits of migrant, refugee and displaced children under the age of 15 from around the world.