Photographer Sebastião Salgado dies at age 81

Photographer Sebastião Salgado died at the age of 81. The news was announced by Instituto Terra, a non-governmental organization founded by the photographer, as cited by Globo .

“Sebastião was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time. Alongside his life partner, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, he sowed hope where there was devastation and made the idea that environmental restoration is also a profound gesture of love for humanity flourish. His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, the power of transformative action,” reads a post by the NGO on Facebook.

The photographer was born in Aimorés, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. He is known for his documentary work and his preference for black and white, which he captured during a career spanning decades, during which he traveled to more than 120 countries.

He was a photographer for the photography agencies Sygma, Gamma, and Magnum, and founded Amazonas Images and Instituto Terra with his wife Lélia, the reforestation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

In addition to being Brazilian, Sebastião Salgado also had French nationality. It was in Paris that he began his career as a photographer in 1973.

Portugal hosted an exhibition of his work at the CCB in 1993, with around 250 photographs.