Renowned French-Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado passes away at the age of 81.
Renowned Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado passed away on Friday, leaving behind a lasting legacy of capturing the intricacies of planet Earth in black and white. Throughout his five-decade career, he traversed various continents, from Rwanda to Guatemala, Indonesia to Bangladesh, documenting dire human predicaments and the stunning beauty of the natural world.
Salgado, who was self-taught, approached his craft with a compassionate eye. His photographs portrayed the plight of those in the so-called Third World with an empathy he attributed to his shared roots. This empathy shone through as he chronicled famines, wars, migration, and exploitation, covering these and other tragedies with a grace which belied their horrors.
However, Salgado was not just a documentarian of despair. He also celebrated the Earth's incomparable beauty, from the "flying rivers" of the Amazon rainforest to the grandeur of distant landscapes such as the Arctic Circle and Papua New Guinea. His work served as a poignant reminder of the fragility of nature in the face of climate change.
Salgado's images have graced the pages of magazines like Life and Time, and are housed in a series of captivating books. His work has been exhibited in museums worldwide, most prominently in Paris, where he resided for much of his life.
The photojournalist was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Prince of Asturias and Hasselblad Prizes. His life and career were the subject of Wim Wenders' Academy Award-nominated documentary, The Salt of the Earth (2014).
Born on a cattle farm in Aimorés, southeastern Brazil, Salgado grew up with seven siblings. It was the long journeys to visit friends and family that taught him patience, which he believed made him a better photographer. He studied economics at the University of São Paulo, where he also became active in the left-wing student movements of the 1960s. In 1969, he and his wife, Lelia Wanick, fled to France to escape Brazil's military dictatorship and eventually received French citizenship.
Salgado discovered his passion for photography in 1970, when he picked up his wife's camera during a chance encounter. After earning his master's degree in economics, he decided to pursue photography full-time, turning down a dream job at the World Bank to do so.
His work brought him to Africa frequently, where he began taking photographs on the side while working for the International Coffee Organization. He gained international acclaim with his coverage of drought and famine in countries such as Niger and Ethiopia, ultimately joining Magnum Photos in 1979. It was while working at Magnum that Salgado captured the assassination attempt on US President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Salgado's greatest fame came with the release of his first book, Other Americas (1984), a series of portraits from Latin America, and the unforgettable images of the mud-covered miners of Brazil's Serra Pelada, the largest open-pit gold mine in the world. Although critics accused him of "beautifying suffering," his aesthetic and commitment to exposing social issues never wavered.
As a climate activist, Salgado was a vocal critic of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's encouragement of agribusiness and mining in the Amazon rainforest. He also founded the environmental organization Instituto Terra to revive disappearing forests in his home state, Minas Gerais. The project was supported by over 3,000 landowners.
Throughout his career, Sebastião Salgado used his lens to shed light on injustices, celebrate the human spirit, and advocated for the preservation of our planet. His indelible images will continue to inspire for generations to come.
- Sebastião Salgado's work, as a renowned photojournalist, served as a poignant reminder of the fragility of nature in the face of climate change, highlighting the critical interplay between environment, climate change, and science.
- Beyond documenting human predicaments and the beauty of the natural world, Salgado also used his craft to advocate for environmental-science causes through his activism, specifically addressing climate change.
- In politics and general-news discourse, Salgado's images brought attention to pressing issues such as deforestation and the impact of agribusiness on the environment, especially in the Amazon rainforest.
- As arts and culture continue to evolve, Salgado's lasting legacy will be celebrated as an internationally recognized pioneer who combined the power of photography with a deep commitment to the environment and the plight of others, transcending genres and leaving a significant impact on the world.
