1944 —
Sebastião Salgado was not always on track to become a photographer. The Brazilian earned an MA in economics in São Paulo, and a PhD in Paris. By the age of thirty he had become a freelance photojournalist, documenting his trips to Africa as an economist with the World Coffee Organisation, and by 1979 he had been inducted into Magnum Photos. His humanitarian photography, shot over a career of five decades and counting and often focused on subjects in poverty or difficult conditions, has seen Salgado travel the world, earned him the Hasselblad Award, and sealed a reputation for the artist as somebody with intense understanding and empathy for those whom his lens captures.
Working for the New York Times, Salgado was commissioned to photograph the first hundred days of the President Reagan administration. His home country has proven fertile ground for some of Salgado's most memorable photo series, including the Serra Pelada gold mine and the endangered Amazon rainforest. He would go on to found the Instituto Terra, dedicated to conservation and reforestation. Salgado has been awarded or recognised by the King of Spain, the French culture ministry and the World Economic Forum, to count just a few: here is an artist who has spent a lifetime leaving lasting, positive impact on the world he photographs.
