Sebastião Salgado

Economist‑turned‑artist Sebastião Salgado (1944–2025) began his photographic career after his finance roles with the International Coffee Organization and the World Bank took him to tea and coffee plantations across Africa. Moved by the people he met, he left finance to document humanity’s lives and landscapes. His striking black‑and‑white work highlighted global issues of labor, migration, and nature, serving as a catalyst for awareness and social action.

Over five decades Salgado was affiliated with Gamma Photographic Agency, Magnum Photos, and co‑founded Amazonas Images with his wife Lélia to represent humanitarian and environmental photography. He collaborated with Médecins Sans Frontières on two books and organized exhibitions to support their work. His monographs—including Workers, Migrations, and Portraits of Children of the Migration—spurred community‑based exhibitions and educational programs worldwide.

Honored as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Salgado also served on the Academy of Arts and Sciences. In later years he combined his artistry with ecological stewardship through large‑scale reforestation in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Salgado passed away in 2025 at the age of 80, leaving a profound visual legacy that continues to inspire advocacy for social justice and environmental conservation.