In June 2022, I reached Paris for a conference. I landed a few days ago and indulged in normal happiness – eating, walking and visiting museums. A friend who lived in the city and worked was extremely generous in his hospitality and offered to show me. One day, as I stepped out of the metro station, my focus was designed for a bamboo structure among a large public class, surrounded by buildings. Class activity was alive-employees leaving work, passengers enter the metro station or exit passengers, take out families for walking, and immigrants selling goods with Paris-themed goods. Bamboo structure was an anomaly.
When I got closer, I looked under the name of Sebastio Salgado, which was written in Bold. My questions were partially answered and I slowly realized where I had reached by mistake. I almost forgot that Paris, finally, in the city of Salgado, a place, which he called home in 1969 after leaving Brazil in protest against military dictatorship.
Pavilion with an exhibition of Sebastyo Salgado in Paris. , Photo Credit: Kunal Ray
Economist replaced the photographer
Born on 8 February 1944, Aimorés, Salgado earned Ph.D in Economics in Paris before becoming a full -time photographer. Humanity and nature are celebrated for their black-white images, he died of leukemia in Paris on May 23, 2025. He developed the disease in 2010 after contracting a particular type of malaria. Salgado survived his wife, Lelia, his two sons, Juliano and Rodrigo, and two Grandpa, Flavison, Flavison, Flavison, and two grandfather.
The story is that Lelia gifted her her first camera. Salgado later stated that photography slowly attacked his life, eventually inspired him to end his career in economics.
I was thrilled on the occasion of seeing the work of Salgado closely. Till then, like many of his fans in India, I had only seen his pictures in books or digital reproduction. In Paris, the museum tour and exhibitions are usually booked months ago. But here I was nowhere, without any pre -plan, I was watching the work of one of the most famous photographers in the world. Anyone who was interested could walk inside. There were no long queues, just an entry ticket. This was a powerful example of the art that reached people beyond the boundaries of the institutes. And this is something in which there was faith in the anniversary.
Documentation of nature and humanity
Sebastyo Salgado, April 2025 at an exhibition of his Amazon Photo Series in Brussels. Photo Credit: Getty Images
It is not that we forget, it was his frequent trips to Africa and Latin America during his tenure as an economist in the International Coffee Organization in London, which turned him into a full -time photographer. He began production coffee production in Africa and Latin America, and quit his job, and became a freelance photographer with photo agency, Sigma.
The social documentary was at the core of his practice. His large-scale black and white photographs captured many issues: economic adversity, the effect of climate change on mankind, shrinking natural habitats, harassing the world among other socio-economic challenges. Critics often accused him of ‘grief of aesthetics’. In an interview with Mentor Last year, he said, “Why should the poor world be ugly compared to the rich world? … I came from the third world … The pictures I took from my side, from my world, from where I come from.”
As I proceeded through the exhibition, the intention behind its design and curse became increasingly clear. Pictures of bamboo structure accommodation Salgado were designed by Colombian architects Simone Walez and Stephana Simic, both were famous for their work in sustainable architecture. The exhibition himself was designed by Salgado’s wife and prolonged colleague, Lelia.
Timeless monochromes
The central theme of the exhibition was water. With her previous work, all photos were in black and white. The aesthetics echoed his other major projects, including his Amazon series and large -scale redistribution initiatives in Brazil, where he and Lelia looked after planting more than 2.5 million trees on humiliated lands.
And there are many more – Worker (A series on manual labor),, Migration (On people displaced by socio-economic and environmental factors), Other America (The life of farmers in Latin America) and their pictures of gold min workers in Brazil. There was an artist here that was an tireless commentator and documentary. Earth salt (2014), Wim Wenders and son of Salgado, Juliano Rebero provides a biographical documentary, artist and a beautiful picture of their work.
A Mumbai photo by Salgado. , Photo Credit: Kunal Ray
The pavilion designed to display the work of the anniversary directly interacted with photos on the performance, requiring ecological balance and protection. There were pictures from around the world with water as a central metaphor. India was prominently represented with scenes from Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata and parts of Rajasthan. Surrounded by these powerful images in the heart of a foreign city, standing there, felt like a particularly special moment.
I returned to the exhibition several times, to take in complex details before each photo – people, ecosystems, and the residences that the Salgado had documented very carefully. His deep humanism was radiated through every frame. With the passing of Salgado, the world has lost a great cross -crasheror of our turbulent times. The most difficult tribute to his legacy is to embrace his message-one of compassion, protection and co-existence.
The author is a critic and cultural commentator, and the Flame University, in Pune.
Published – 26 June, 2025 12:23 pm IST
