Sebastião Salgado portrayed over several decades manual laborers around the world, exposed migrants, war- and famine-stricken adults and children – photographs collected in comprehensive projects such as "Workers" (1986–1992) and "Migrations" (1993–1999).
"Through his lens, the world and its contradictions were revealed", writes his foundation.
Salgado's works have been shown several times in Sweden. When the exhibition "Gold" was shown at Fotografiska in Stockholm, he told TT that:
is always a link to historical developments in my photographs. I hope they can contribute to raising awareness.
Throughout his career, he emphasized that he was neither an artist nor an activist – but a photographer. Yet, there was a clear political commitment.
Yes, totally. I come from the left, studied political economy and want equality for all. My photographs lead in that direction. But alone, I can do nothing, they must be part of a movement. And they have always been, he said in 2019.
Salgado was, among other things, critical of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, and criticized his handling of Amazonas.
The current president Luiz Inácio da Silva says in a statement that Salgado was "one of the greatest photographers the world has given us".
In 1989, Salgado was awarded the Hasselblad Prize.
"He has an outstanding ability to unite journalistic proximity, solidarity commitment, and photographic aesthetics in his photographic reports. His images are gripping and urgent", it said then in the jury's motivation.
Sebastião Salgado became 81 years old.
Born 1944 in Aimorès in Brazil.
Trained as an economist at the university in São Paulo and worked for the International Coffee Organization when his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado one day bought a camera for him.
Salgado had never photographed seriously before, but soon became so captivated that he left his job in 1973 to support himself as a photographer.
He worked for the image agencies Sygma, Gamma, and Magnum before, together with his wife, starting his own company Amazonas Images.
He has also participated in his son Juliano Salgado's and Wim Wenders' film "The Salt of the Earth – A film about Sebastião Salgado".
Received the Hasselblad Prize in 1989.
