His hard-hitting photos chronicled major global events such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994, burning oilfields at the end of the Gulf War in 1991, and the famine in the Sahel region of Africa in 1984. His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, the power of transformative action.
Some of his most striking pictures were taken in his home country, including epic photos of thousands of desperate figures working in open-cast gold mines and striking images of the indigenous people of the Amazon. Salgado's final major project, Amazônia, spotlighted the rainforest's beauty and fragility.
A lifelong advocate for the Amazon's indigenous people, Salgado documented the daily lives of a dozen of the tribes scattered throughout the rainforest - from hunting and fishing expeditions, to dances and rituals. He spent seven years on an ambitious photographic journey, exploring the remote reaches of the Amazon rainforest and documenting its inhabitants. The project culminated in an exhibition showcasing over 200 black-and-white images, offering a poignant glimpse into the region's landscapes and communities.
Born in 1944, Salgado left a career in economics to start as a photographer in 1973. He worked on international assignments for a variety of photography agencies before forming his own, Amazonas Images, with Lélia in 1994. He received the Sony World Photography Awards' Outstanding Contribution to Photography in 2024.
Other accolades included the Prince of Asturias Award and recognition as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador. Through the Instituto Terra, Salgado and Lélia also restored his father's farm in Brazil to thriving rainforest by planting more than three million trees.
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