Mourning the Passing of Sebastião Salgado, Renowned Photographer
Raw and Real: The Legacy of Sebastião Salgado
At the ripe age of 28, I found myself rubbing shoulders with a living legend—Sebastião Salgado, a name synonymous with raw, powerful photography that captured the very essence of human resilience and the natural world's fragility. In my humble role as an editorial assistant at Photo District News, I was beyond ecstatic to attend the grand opening of one of his exhibitions at ICP in New York City. I didn't just want to be a spectator; I yearned to meet him—mortal man behind the immortal images. Looking back, simply shaking his hand was an experience that indelibly marked my life.
A Witness to Life
Salgado's photography transcended the mere art of capturing moments. He empatized with his subjects, immersing himself in their lives, and crafting images that tugged at your heartstrings. A combination of empathy, classical composition, and a cinematic sense of scale breathed life into his soul-stirring black-and-white images, featuring laborers and migrants in remote communities.
According to an interview with Ken Lassiter, Photographer's Forum, Salgado had one primary purpose. He wished for the world to remember the people he photographed. He yearned to provoke debate on global issues through his images, rather than inviting admiration for the photographs themselves.
Bodies of Work
Throughout his illustrious career, Salgado produced awe-inspiring bodies of work, including:
- Workers: Salgado began photographing workers across the globe in 1980, publishing his first collection in 1993. His images powerfully depicted the universal struggle of laborers everywhere.
- Migrations: Documenting the displacement of people across 35 countries due to social, economic, environmental, and political issues, Salgado photographed over seven years for this series.
- Genesis: Begun in 2004, this project showcased remote, untouched landscapes from the Arctic to Africa and South America. It served as a love letter to the wild, celebrating both the places still holding on and the people whose lives lived in harmony with nature.
A Man of Consequence
Reflecting on that fleeting encounter with Salgado over three decades ago, I vividly recall his humble demeanor. He didn't stride into the room like a star; instead, he seemed almost hesitant, as if wary of taking up too much space. But his presence commanded attention—not due to fame, but because he had borne witness to experiences few could imagine.
A Legacy Unforgotten
It was with immense sadness that I learned of Salgado's demise on May 23, 2025, at the age of 81. Husband to Leila Deluiz Wanick Salgado, father to Juliano and Rodrigo, and grandfather to two, Salgado's family has confirmed that he succumbed to leukemia, complications of a type of malaria contracted in Indonesia in 2010. Salgado's Instituto Terra, an environmental non-profit he co-founded with his wife in 1998, announced the heart-wrenching news.
Feature image:
A still life composed of Sebastião Salgado's photographs from Amazónia at the California Science Center, a 13,000 square-foot immersive exhibit capturing the Amazon rainforest, remote indigenous tribes, and the threat of deforestation.
- Salgado's camera captured not just moments, but stories of human resilience and the fragility of the natural world, shaping a news article about his work that tugged at readers' heartstrings.
- Emptiness filled the entertainment world as news of Salgado's demise spread, marking the end of an era in the field of photography profit and celebrity culture.
- In the face of increasing development and environmental exploitation, Salgado's vision to create Genesis, a collection of untouched landscapes, served as a call to action for a more sustainable world.
- Salgado's visions of the laborers and migrants, captured in both black-and-white and color photography, have undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the history of photography and the maybe even the development of the world as well.
