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Tiago Santana is without a doubt – along with Sebastião Salgado, one generation older – one of the most famous contemporary Brazilian photographers. His work fits perfectly in the creative effervescence of South America : in between traditional and modern.Born in 1966, in Brazil’s Nordeste, he has lived in the United States, Europe – including France – but still stays profoundly attached to his native land.A man of culture, he has recorded the lives of great writers such as Graciliano Ramos; a man of collaborative projects, he is at the origin of documentaries about Brazil, that country whose borders are shared with ten other South American nations. But if there is one subject which occupies the lens of his camera and his reporter’s conscience, it is the Sertão, the “polygon of drought” which covers most of the Nordeste.Edouardo Manet, author of the preface to the book dedicated to his photographs, writes: « Tiago Santana depicts the mysterious and austere Sertão with the fervour of a lover and with exemplary honesty. He presents a different way of seeing things….an exceptional artist such he is can allow himself to break all the rules. A terrible love ties the artist to the place where he was born. Terrible because there isn’t the slightest trace of sentimentality in Santana’s photographs. He almost takes pride in showing us the Brazilian Nordeste just as it is. Tiago Santana does not communicate a message or any specific theme.This artist is like his homeland : a powerful volcano. He has never been to art school nor to any of the photography classes at renowned universities where they teach the “art of photography” with intelligence and fervour. Santana went looking for his art in the way that Gorki would have it : “at the university of life”. »