The Brazilian photographer and activist Sebastião Salgado passed away on Friday at the age of 81. He was known for his photo documentaries about poverty and migration, among other things. Salgado died in Paris, where he lived with his wife.
His foundation, which he founded with his partner, announced the news via Instagram.
Salgado had lived in Paris since 1973. He was trained as an economist but made a career switch to freelance photographer when he settled in the French capital.
The photographer, who was born in 1944 in the Brazilian countryside, has won several awards for his work. In 1985, he won a World Press Photo award for his image of a refugee camp in Ethiopia, where a famine was taking place at the time.
This type of photo is characteristic of his work, which was often exhibited in black and white. He photographed many social subjects, such as poor working conditions, political persecution, and the effects of climate change.
For example, he captured the genocide in Rwanda and made photos of the gold miners in the Brazilian gold mine Serra Pelada. That eventually became one of his most famous works and can be seen in the photo below.
‘Captured the Soul of the World’
Besides being a photographer, Salgado was known as an activist. He and his wife joined an organization that opposed the dictatorship in Brazil. He was also an outspoken Marxist. He also worked with UNICEF, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders.
The Brazilian Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, speaks of a photographer who “knew how to capture the soul of the world”. The president of the country, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, regrets Salgado’s death and says that he was “one of the best”.