Sebastiao Salgado
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of the acclaimed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. We had the privilege of opening the gallery with Sebastião’s Workers exhibition in 1995.
Born in 1944 in Aimorés, Brazil, Salgado was originally trained as an economist. He went on to become an internationally renowned artist for his remarkable photographs grounded in the reality of contemporary political, social, economic and environmental issues. Salgado undertook projects of vast scope and complexity, traveling to over one hundred countries to document both the plight and dignity of ordinary individuals along with the beauty and fragility of the natural environment.
Some of Salgado’s most recognized projects include Gold, which documented the harsh conditions of the Serra Pelada gold mine in northern Brazil; Workers, which explored manual labor in the oil, construction, agricultural and mining industries; Migrations, which traced the global movement of people in contexts of economic migration and forced displacement; Genesis, depicting the beauty and fragility of the planet in light of environmental degradation and climate change; and Amazônia which focused on Brazil’s Amazonian Forest and the indigenous communities inhabiting it.
Salgado’s works have been exhibited in institutions throughout the world, and his work is held in major museum collections including the Centre Pompidou, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Tate, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, among others. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Hasselblad Award, the International Center of Photography Lifetime Achievement Award and the Praemium Imperiale Award. He was recognized as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador as well as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1998, Salgado and his wife Lélia Wanick established the Instituto Terra, dedicated to the reforestation of land and rebuilding of biodiversity in Salgado’s home state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The gallery extends its deepest condolences to Sebastião’s wife Lélia, his sons Juliano and Rodrigo, and his teams at Studio Sebastião Salgado and Instituto Terra.