by Head Curator Mikhail Potapov
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 6^th of June 2025

On May 23, 2025, obituaries about the death of the outstanding Brazilian photographer Sebastian Salgado were published on the websites of France 24 and The New York Times. The French Academy of Fine Arts expressed its deep impression of the loss and described the deceased as a great witness to the state of man and the planet. The photographer's family confirmed that the reason for his sudden departure was leukemia, which developed after an incident in 2010, when Salgado contracted a special form of malaria while working on a project in Indonesia.

Photographer Sebastião Salgado is known for his documentary photographs about the life, structure of countries and peoples of the third world. Its main focus is on people suffering from disasters, poverty, and hunger. Born during military conflicts, natural disasters, oppression, and political instability, forced to seek a new home far from their native land.

Capturing on camera the poignant moments of displacement and migration of peoples, during tragic events in their lives, was the driving force behind Sebastian Salgado's intentions. The photographer drew inspiration from his personal experience, because he experienced the exodus of his family in 1969, when they moved to Europe from Brazil, which at that time was under military rule.

The photographer's activity focuses not only on social photography. His works are impressive landscapes, pictures of wildlife, the life of peoples, communities with their own way of life, lifestyle and culture. Everyone brought photos of acute social issues to Sebastian.

Susan Sontag, an American writer, art, theater and film critic, philosopher and essayist, once reproached a Brazilian photographer for poeticizing suffering and poverty. As she believed, he presents the topic very aesthetically, causing admiration among those watching the work, rather than fear, horror and other negative emotions.

Yes, Salgado's pictures are impressive, but the plot is built around the main characters: polar bears, walruses, impoverished communities, firefighters extinguishing burning oil wells.

Sebastian Salgado has always been at the very center of most armed conflicts, managed to film the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, worked in the war zone in Western Sahara and Angola. During his long career, he has visited and lived in more than a hundred countries, devoted a lot of time to Latin American countries, delved into the culture, traditions, rituals, and way of life of people who seemed to be stuck in the Middle Ages. The book "Other Americas" includes photographs from 1977-1984, which tell about the difficult life of indigenous peoples in remote parts of the planet.

In 1984-1985, Salgado photographed North Africans who were suffering from hunger and drought, as well as their rescuers, volunteers and members of the Doctors Without Borders community. The pictures are included separately in the book.

Other books by photographer Sebastian Salgado reflect the lives of miners, steelworkers, weavers, and construction workers who lost their jobs due to automation. He also filmed migrants who had to be far from their homeland.

Interesting facts about Sebastian Salgado

During the life, work and creativity of the respected photojournalist, many interesting stories and moments have accumulated. So, for example:

• When Sebastio photographed the locals of northern Brazil, they thought he was a messenger from God who had come to see and capture those worthy of paradise after death. And it's really believable. Most likely, the task of Salgado's work is a great mission.

• The photographer has always been able to find friends and make friends, even in the most amazing and unexplored parts of the world. He could make friends with a turtle in two weeks or with a 35-meter whale in seconds, not to mention people.

 After becoming a Doctor of Economics, Sebastian Salgado, at the age of 40, decides to take up photography seriously.

 The photographer has two sons, one of whom was born with Down syndrome and has now become an artist.

• Salgado repaid his debts to his native land. After the drought and the disappearance of the forest, he and his wife Leila decided to revive it. They have planted more than 2 million trees. It is now a national nature reserve.

In modern realities, when reporting takes the form of a tool for ideological manipulation, Salgado's experience looks impressive. His main and only message for humanity remains a call not to remain indifferent. It is better to give everything else to feature films, television staff and propagandists.

Some works and projects by Sebastian Salgado

"Other Americas" A book of 49 black-and-white photographs taken between 1977 and 1984 in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. The images show the spiritual and religious practices of the local population, altered rural landscapes and family life.

"Sahel: A Man in Trouble" and "Sahel: The End of the Road". Photo projects created as part of the work with the organization "Doctors without Borders". Salgado documented the suffering of refugees in the Sahel desert region of Africa.

"Workers" The photographer's lens turned out to be people of hard physical labor: steelworkers, miners, gold diggers, builders. The pictures show people who are out of work due to the automation of production.

«Exodus» is a project dedicated to people who escaped genocide. As part of this project, Salgado witnessed real atrocities, especially in Rwanda (Africa).

"Migration: Humanity in Motion" and "Children: Refugees and Migrants". Filming took place in 47 countries and captured refugees and migrants walking, swimming or running in search of a new home.

«Genesis» is a project about the search for harmony between man and nature. This project took eight years of traveling with a camera — from Antarctica to the Arctic, from the Galapagos Islands to the Amazon basin.

"Africa". A book that includes photographs from the lives of the inhabitants of the African continent, taken over the past ten years.

"Kuwait: the desert is on fire". The book about the war in Kuwait reflects the devastating impact of the war on the Middle Eastern country.

Awards and recognition

Sebastian Salgado's works have received worldwide recognition. His awards include the Hasselblad Prize (1989) and the Prince of Asturias Art Prize (1998), the William Eugene Smith Prize (1982), the Paris City Prize (1984), the World Press Photo Prize (Netherlands, 1985), the Villa Medici Prize (France, 1987), the Grand National Prize for Photography (France, 1994) and others.

Salgado presented his life and work in the documentary "Salt of the Earth" (2014), directed by Wim Wenders and his son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado.

Link to the original article on Mikhail Potapov's website
https://potapov.store/sebastyan-salgado-fotograf-otkryvayuschiy-mir-sol-zemli