Award-winning Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado dead at 81

Award-winning Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has died, according to his nonprofit Instituto Terra. He was 81 years old.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Sebastião Salgado, our founder, mentor, and eternal source of inspiration,” Instituto Terra said in an Instagram post, which did not list a cause of death.

Salgado is survived by two sons, two grandchildren and his partner Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, who co-founded the Instituto Terra with him.

People are seen at Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado’s exhibition Amazonia, about deforestation and climate change, at SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 14, 2022.

“Sebastião was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time,” the post continued. “Alongside his life partner, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, he sowed hope where there was devastation and brought to life the belief that environmental restoration is also a profound act of love for humanity.”

Trained initially as an economist, Salgado spent much of his long career documenting the effects of heavy industry on the environment, from a monograph on gold mining in his native Brazil to a book on oil fires in Kuwait.

RESTRICTED Sebastião Salgado Amazonia 5b

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Salgado’s last book, “Amazônia,” showcased Brazil’s region of the same name, focusing on the sustainable example offered by the Amazon’s Indigenous communities and the beauty of its riverine landscape.

“We are presenting a different Amazonia,” Salgado told CNN in 2021. “There are no fires, no destruction – the Amazonia that must stay there forever.”

“We cannot build our future – the future of humanity – based only on technology,” Salgado continued. “We must look at our past; we must take into consideration anything that we did in our history. Human beings have a huge opportunity: the prehistory of humanity is in Amazonia now.”

The ongoing destruction of the rainforest pained Salgado greatly, and he devoted many years through his nonprofit to planting trees and restoring denuded woodlands in Brazil. In 2021, he told CNN that he and volunteers had planted over 3 million trees over 22 years on his family’s property in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

“We can rebuild the planet that we destroyed, and we must,” Salgado said.

CNN’s Thomas Page contributed reporting.