Brazilian photographer and environmentalist Sebastião Salgado dies at 81
Salgado's style is marked by black-and-white imagery, rich tonality, and emotionally charged scenarios. Many of his best pictures were taken in impoverished communities, especially in the Amazon and in Africa. He was recently experiencing undisclosed health problems.
"Through the lens of his camera, Sebastião tirelessly fought for a more just, humane, and ecological world,' Salgado's family said in a statement.
"As a photographer who traveled the globe continuously, he contracted a particular form of malaria in 2010 in Indonesia while working on his Genesis project. Fifteen years later, complications from this illness developed into severe leukemia, which ultimately took his life,' the family added.
Earlier, Instituto Terra, which was founded by Salgado and his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado, and the French Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was a member, announced his death, but did not provide details on the circumstances or where he died.
"Sebastião was more than one of the best photographers of our time,' Instituto Terra said in a statement. "His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, (brought) the power of transformative action.'
Composer Laurent Petitgirard, secretary of the French Academy of Fine Arts, said in a statement that Salgado, one of his colleagues, was "remarkable for his moral integrity, his charisma, and his commitment to serving art.'
"He leaves behind a monumental body of work,' Petitgirard said about a photographer who received many awards, and was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States in 1992 and to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2016.
Salgado's main works include the recent "Amazonia' series, "Workers,' which shows manual labor around the world, and "Exodus' (also known as "Migrations' or "Sahel'), which documents people in transit, including refugees and slum residents.
Salgado had his life and work portrayed in the documentary "The Salt of the Earth' (2014), co-directed by Wim Wenders and his son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. The film was was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2015.
One of Brazil's most famous artists, though, always insisted he was "just a photographer.'
Salgado moved to France in 1969 as Brazil endured a military dictatorship. He said in different interviews he was then a leftist militant against the regime.
It was in Paris in 1973 that he started to fully dedicate his time to photography and develop his black-and-white style, years after his economics degree.
His first professional works were for the agency Sygma in 1974. The following year, he documented the lives of peasants and Indigenous peoples in Latin America for the Gamma agency. Five years later, he joined Magnum, a top brand for photographers, of which he later became president.
Salgado left it in 1994 to found Amazonia Images with his wife, an agency that exclusively handles his work.
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received Salgado's support throughout his political career, requested a minute of silence during a ceremony in the capital city of Brasilia to honor "one of the greatest, if not the greatest, photographer the world has ever produced.'
"His nonconformity with the fact that the world is so unequal and his stubborn talent in portraying the reality of the oppressed always served as a wake-up call for the conscience of all humanity,' Lula said. "Salgado did not only use his eyes and his camera to portray people: he also used the fullness of his soul and his heart.'
France's President Emmanuel Macron posted a picture of Salgado's in Alaska in his Instagram profile as a tribute to the photographer, who also had French citizenship.
Salgado and his wife, whom he married in 1967, raised their two sons, Juliano and Rodrigo, in France. His friends said every morning that he could he would breathe the air near the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. His death also caused commotion in the country he adopted.
François-Bernard Mâche, a major French composer who worked with Salgado for his exhibition "Aqua Mater' in Paris, said the Brazilian was an "authentic and warm man'.
"His gaze transformed landscapes, and beyond the spectacular, he reached a kind of inner truth (…). With him, photography fulfilled one of its highest ambitions by going far beyond mere appearances,' Mâche told The Associated Press.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Salgado was passionate about their city.
"Tonight I cry for a very close friend, a rare soul; a loyal, discreet and sensible man. His death moves us profoundly. He already leaves us an immense void,' Hidalgo said. "Paris, the city that loved him, will give him the honors he deserves.'
An exhibition of about 400 of Salgado's works is currently on display in the city of Deauville, in northern France.
Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, which published several of Salgado's works over the last decades, said he recently canceled a meeting with journalists in the French city of Reims due to health problems. He was scheduled to attend an exhibition with works by his son Rodrigo for a church in the same city on Saturday, the daily reported.
Salgado and his wife had been working since the 1990s to restore part of the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais. In 1998, they turned a plot of land they owned into a nature reserve, according to Salgado's biography on the French Academy of Fine Arts' website. That same year, they created Instituto Terra, which promotes reforestation and environmental education.
So far, Instituto Terra has planted more than 3 million trees in the city of Aimores, which lies in what was once a somewhat deserted region in the countryside of the Minas Gerais state. The photographer was born there in 1944.
In an undated interview with Forbes Brasil published on Thursday, Salgado said that attending the exhibition of his works in Deuville felt like a stroll through his life.
"How many times in my life have I put my camera to the side and sat down to cry? Sometimes it was too dramatic, and I was alone. That's the power of the photographer; to be able to be there,' Salgado said.
"If a photographer is not there, there's no image. We need to be there. We expose ourselves a lot. And that is why it is such an immense privilege.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
9 hours ago
- Arab Times
Terence Stamp, famed for his role as 'Superman' villain General Zod, dies at 87
LONDON, Aug 18, (AP): Terence Stamp, the British actor who often played the role of a complex villain, including that of General Zod in the early Superman films, has died. He was 87. His death on Sunday was disclosed in a death notice published online, prompting a wave of tributes from an array of fans and those close to him within the industry, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA. The London-born Stamp started his film career with 1962's seafaring "Billy Budd,' for which he earned Oscar and BAFTA award nominations. His six decades in the business were peppered with highlights, including his touching portrayal of the transsexual Bernadette in 1994's "The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," the second of his two BAFTA nominations. But it will be his portrayal of the bearded Zod in 1978's "Superman' and its sequel, "Superman II' two years later, that most people associate with Stamp. As the Kryptonian arch enemy to Christopher Reeve's Man of Steel, Stamp introduced a darker, charming, and vulnerable - more human - element to the franchise, one that's been replicated in countless superhero movies ever since. Edgar Wright, who directed Stamp in his final feature film, 2021's "Last Night in Soho,' remembered the actor in an Instagram post as "kind, funny, and endlessly fascinating.' "The closer the camera moved, the more hypnotic his presence became. In close-up, his unblinking gaze locked in so powerfully that the effect was extraordinary. Terence was a true movie star: the camera loved him, and he loved it right back,' Wright said. Bill Duke, who starred with Stamp in director Steven Soderbergh's 1999 crime drama "The Limey,' said he was "deeply saddened' to hear of his death. "He brought a rare intensity to the screen, but off-screen he carried himself with warmth, grace, and generosity,' he said on Facebook. Stamp started his acting career on stage in the late 1950s, where he acted in repertory theatre and met Michael Caine, who was five years older than himself. The pair lived together in a flat in central London while looking for their big break. He got his break with "Billy Budd' and Stamp embarked on a career that would see him in the early 1960s be part of the "angry young men' movement that was introducing an element of social realism into British moviemaking. That was perhaps most notable in the 1965 adaptation of John Fowles' creepy debut novel "The Collector,' where he played the awkward and lonely Freddie Clegg, who kidnapped Samantha Eggar's Miranda Grey in a warped attempt to win her love. It was a performance that would earn the young Stamp, fresh off his Oscar nomination, the best actor award at that year's Cannes Film Festival. While part of that 1960s British movement, Stamp learned from some of the most seasoned actors from the classical era, including Laurence Olivier. "I worked with Olivier briefly on my second movie (1962's "Term of Trial"),' Stamp recalled in an interview with the AP in 2013. "And he said to me, 'You should always study your voice.'' Stamp then segued into a spot-on Olivier impersonation, continuing, "'Because, as you get older, your looks go, but your voice will become empowered.'' His career took a bit of a hiatus from the late 1960s after he missed out on the role of James Bond to replace Sean Connery, that included a years-long stint in India and which saw him embrace a more holistic approach to his self. It was the unexpected role of General Zod that brought him back to the limelight. He played John Tunstall in 1988's "Young Guns,' the Galactic Republic leader in 1999's "Star Wars' prequel "The Phantom Menace,' appeared in the comedies "Yes Man' and "Get Smart' in 2008 and delivered voice performances in the video games "Halo 3' and "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.' Born in London's East End on July 22, 1938, Stamp lived a colorful life, particularly during the 1960s when he had a string of romances, including with actress Julie Christie and model Jean Shrimpton. He married 29-year-old Elizabeth O'Rourke in 2002 at the age of 64, but the couple divorced six years later. Stamp did not have any children. Stamp retained his looks as the years ticked by, his natural handsomeness hardened by a more grizzled look. He generally sought to keep his standards high - to a point.
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Meet the actor with Down syndrome who wants to run for president of Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug 17, (AP): Sebastián Solorza is already a familiar face to many Chileans, having starred in a popular Netflix series and won national acting awards. Now, the 43-year-old actor with Down syndrome wants to enter the race for president in Chile's national election this year. Solorza is racing against the clock to gather 35,000 signatures by Aug. 18, a requirement for him to run as an independent candidate. He positions himself as a "point of balance' between the far right and the far left - a fierce ideological battle that dominates Chile's political scene. "I listen with my heart,' Solorza told The Associated Press, adding that his condition allows him to offer a softer communication style. Should he enter the electoral race, his platform will focus on greater inclusion, improved healthcare and education, and enhanced security - a main concern of citizens who have been grappling with an unprecedented crisis of violence in recent years. Chile will choose its new president on Nov. 16, with the campaign so far defined by the mutual attacks between the two main contestants: The far-right José Antonio Kast, who lost to current leftist president Gabriel Boric in 2021, and Jeannette Jara, the ruling coalition's communist nominee. With three months remaining until the election, polls show Kast and Jara vying for the top two spots. This scenario suggests they would face each other in a second-round runoff on Dec. 14. Solorza argues that his candidacy offers a middle ground between political extremes, while working toward a "more inclusive country.' "I've spent my entire life breaking down prejudices, as an actor, as a worker, and as a citizen,' he said last month when announcing his plans to run as an independent candidate. "We all deserve the same opportunities.' The actor hopes his candidacy will give greater visibility to people with Down syndrome and other disabilities. While it's unlikely he will secure the necessary support to run for president - he has collected a little over 600 of the 35,000 signatures required - he sees his political foray as a success. Solorza keeps a tight schedule, balancing an acting career with a day job at a construction company. In his limited free time, he spends time visiting Congress, talking with members of the Parliament and meeting with constituents to promote his campaign. On the streets of Huechuraba, a quiet and green neighborhood in the northern part of Chile's capital, Solorza is often greeted by supporters, fans, and workers from restaurants and cafés where he is a regular. Always smiling, he walks slowly, making time for anyone who wants a photo or a brief chat. In Valparaíso - a coastal town about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Santiago - Chileans show up at the Parliament to express their support. "Good luck with the signatures,' one supporter said last week. "Let it be the people who ultimately decide our future.' Solorza's political aspirations open the door to "raise the voices of people with Down syndrome' and help to "demystify myths and prejudices still present in society,' said Carolina Gallardo, director of the Chilean nonprofit Down Up Foundation, which offers support and community for families raising children with Down syndrome. The attempt at a political debut is just the latest in a long line of barriers Solorza has overcome. He was born and raised in the 1980s, a time with far less knowledge about Down syndrome than today. His mother, Jenny Solorza, recalls his early years as "very dark,' because doctors never provided a clear diagnosis for their son, leading them to search for information on their own. "We wanted to do our best and always encouraged him with music," she said. As a result, "Sebastián has a very broad musical culture, and that's what he grew up with.' Solorza attended special schools where he developed his passion for the arts, fueled by music, rather than focusing on traditional academics. At 18, he received a scholarship to join a theater school and began performing regularly on stage and appearing in popular TV talk shows. He later rose to national fame for his leading role as Tomy in the Chilean thriller "Chromosome 21.' The series, which follows a detective trying to determine if a young man found at a murder scene is a witness or a suspect, ranked second on Netflix in Chile just two days after its release in 2022. The part earned Solorza the Best New Actor award at the 2023 Caleuche Awards, one of the most important ceremonies in the Chilean film industry. Despite social media criticism that he lacks preparedness and political experience to run for office, he insists he will not be deterred.
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Tristan Rogers, ‘General Hospital's' Robert Scorpio, has died at 79
LOS ANGELES, Aug 16, (AP): Tristan Rogers, who played legacy character Robert Scorpio on ABC's "General Hospital,' died Friday, less than one month after he made a special appearance on the soap opera. He was 79. "The entire 'General Hospital' family is heartbroken to hear of Tristan Rogers' passing,' said Frank Valentini, the show's executive producer, in a statement. "Tristan has captivated our fans for 45 years and Port Charles will not be the same without him (or Robert Scorpio).' Born in Melbourne, Australia, Rogers' first foray into performing was in his early twenties, when he played drums in a rock band with a group of friends. They weren't successful, so Rogers turned to commercial work and modeling to earn some money. When the band dissolved, Rogers decided to give acting a try. After various roles in Australia, he also worked as a DJ and eventually moved to Los Angeles to try to break into Hollywood. He said casting directors were initially turned off by his accent, but he eventually landed a two-day role on "General Hospital' in 1980. "I had no idea at the point how big the show was,' Rogers told fellow "General Hospital' actor Maurice Benard on the YouTube show, "State of Mind with Maurice Benard' in 2022. "I had no name. I was brought in expressly to beat up the hero, Luke (played by Anthony Geary), and then disappear,' Rogers said. His first day was half over when the executive producer, Gloria Monty, asked if he would like to stay on. They had no character written for him, so for three weeks Monty asked him to just appear in scenes "looking furtive, looking suspicious' until they came up with a storyline. It was decided he would play a spy known as "CK8,' and eventually, he was given the name Robert Scorpio. The character would remain a fixture in Port Charles for the rest of Rogers' life, even when he wasn't a current cast member. Scorpio's on-again/off-again romance with Emma Samms' character, Holly Sutton, remained a favorite among fans. Scorpio also had a romance and many storylines with another spy, Anna Devane, played by Finola Hughes. Scorpio and Devane shared a daughter, Robin, played by Kimberly McCullough. Samms returned to the show for a stint last fall, where it was revealed that Scorpio was the father of her adult daughter, Sasha Gilmore (played by Sofia Mattson). Rogers and Samms left the show together in November 2024 in scenes taped with a nod to "Casablanca.' He returned to the show in July for one episode when Sasha arrived at his home in France with her new baby. It was then revealed that Rogers had lung cancer Rogers' other acting credits include "The Bold and the Beautiful,' "The Young & the Restless,' and "Studio City,' which won him outstanding supporting actor in a digital drama series at the Daytime Emmy Awards. He is survived by his wife, Teresa Parkerson, and a daughter and a son.
