Paris/Sao Paulo (EFE) – Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, 81, died Friday, announced the French Academy of Fine Arts and the Terra Institute, dedicated to environmental protection and education.
“It is with great regret that we announce the death of Sebastião Salgado, our founder, teacher, and eternal inspiration,” the Terra Institute, which Salgado founded, said in an Instagram post.
The French Academy also announced with “immense sadness” the death of Salgado, who had been a member since 2014.
Born in 1944 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Salgado became world famous for his black-and-white coverage of conflicts and dramas affecting humanity, such as emigration, poverty, and environmental destruction.
In 1979, he ed Magnum Photos, an international cooperative of photographers. He left Magnum in 1994 and, with his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado, founded his own agency in Paris, Amazonas Images, to represent his work.
His 1987 report on the living conditions of “garimpeiros,” or illegal gold miners in Brazil, became world famous.
“Sebastião was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time (…) He sowed hope where there was devastation, and brought to life the belief that repairing the environment is also a profound act of love for humanity,” said the Terra Institute.
“His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life revealed the power of transformative action,” it added.
Salgado received some of the world’s most prestigious awards, including the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society, the Grand Prix National of the French Ministry of Culture, the Honorary Prize of the Sony World Photography Awards (2024) or the King of Spain Journalism Award (1988). EFE
rcf-val/mcd
