10-07-2025
Bearing Witness in Black and White—Sebastião Salgado's Photos Against Environmental and Human Injustice
Brazil is a beast soaked in the sins of environmental destruction and human rights violations. This reality is captured perfectly in the late award-winning Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado's haunting black-and-white photographs of faceless gold miners, their clothes torn, climbing makeshift ladders in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon. The iconic image, taken in 1986 at Serra Pelada, one of the world's largest open-pit gold mines that operated from 1980 to 1992, immortalizes both the desperation of men driven by poverty and the staggering environmental cost of their pursuit. The New York Times named it one of "The 25 Photos that Defined the Modern Age."
The facelessness of the miners acts as a visual metaphor for how dehumanizing conditions erase individuality, as part of the process of othering. In a different image, Salgado presents a tense standoff between a miner and a police officer; here, their faces are visible, as are those of the men surrounding them, a powerful tableau of oppression and resistance. The bleakness of this reality is not confined to the past; it persists in our present.
The late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado poses for a portrait at Somerset House, in London, on April 18, 2024.
The late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado poses for a portrait at Somerset House, in London, on April 18, 2024.
BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP via Getty Images
Salgado was a legendary photographer. His lens bore witness to humanity's darkest injustices and most profound resilience. Salgado's work denounced human rights abuses, environmental devastation, social inequality, and the ruthless greed of industry, forcing mainstream attention on issues too often ignored or sanitized.
In his final book, Amazônia, Salgado with his signature style, captured the lives of Indigenous communities, their sustainable traditions, and the lush river landscapes of the Amazon Rainforest. These photos show a world relatively untouched by modern civilization. His work presents a vivid record of what is at stake and a striking contrast to his earlier images of exploitation and ruin. Amazônia stands as a testament to the true Guardians of the Earth.
Visitors attend the exhibition of "Gold: Serra Pelada" from the late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado at the CAIXA Cultural Recife Cultural Center in the city of Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil on May 23, 2025.
Visitors attend the exhibition of "Gold: Serra Pelada" from the late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado at the CAIXA Cultural Recife Cultural Center in the city of Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil on May 23, 2025.
DIEGO NIGRO/AFP via Getty Images
Salgado's work cuts deeper than glossy PR images from corporations touting "social responsibility," or celebrities in face paint posing with Indigenous children for a photo-op in countries they cannot name. His images matter more than the hollow speeches delivered by politicians at international summits, few of whom ever face real risk or meet with Indigenous communities. Salgado himself paid a personal price for chronicling humanity's pain; he admitted last year that his time in hazardous environments had taken a toll. Salgado developed severe leukemia, which came from malaria he contracted in Indonesia in 2010.
Another iconic Salgado photograph, this time from Kuwait: A Desert on Fire, shows a man silhouetted against a raging inferno. The fire was one of the hundreds of oil wells set ablaze by dictator Saddam Hussein's retreating forces in 1991. The series documents the displacement of families, efforts to contain the disaster, the toil of workers, and the lasting environmental scars. The images speak to the devastation wrought by oil addiction and war, echoing in the present as populist leaders like Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro threatens new conflicts over natural resources, eyeing Guyana's Essequibo region with predatory intent.
Maduro's antagonist, President Donald Trump, isn't inclined to environmental policies. He left the Paris climate agreement and dismantled the measures taken by his predecessor, Joe Biden; still he keeps his word by not pretending to go green. Meanwhile, Brazil's President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva speaks often of the climate crisis but still invests in oil instead of properly championing green alternatives.
A visitor attends the exhibition of "Gold: Serra Pelada" from the late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado at the CAIXA Cultural Recife Cultural Center in the city of Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil on May 23, 2025.
A visitor attends the exhibition of "Gold: Serra Pelada" from the late Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado at the CAIXA Cultural Recife Cultural Center in the city of Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil on May 23, 2025.
DIEGO NIGRO/AFP via Getty Images
Brazil has made progress in environmental and Indigenous rights since the dark days of Jair Bolsonaro's presidency, but the bar was painfully low. The Yanomami people continue to endure a humanitarian disaster plagued by diseases like malaria and diarrhea, while their land isn't completely free from illegal mining. Nevertheless, Brazil prepares to host COP30 and dreams of global environmental leadership. Ironically, Lula's administration and the Brazilian Congress are advancing plans to drill for oil offshore from the Amazon.
In 2024, global average temperatures exceeded the Paris climate agreement threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time. While Lula and Maduro salivate over oil, the world edges ever closer to the apocalyptic vision in Salgado's photos of Kuwait.
The urgency of Salgado's work is clearer now than ever. His images delivered a gut-punch that transcended headlines and front-page news, shaped global conversations, and proved that he was not merely a photojournalist, but an artist of conscience.
By showcasing tragedy and injustice in the realm of art, Salgado's photographs entered mainstream culture, finding their way into galleries, media coverage, and the living rooms of ordinary people. For many, it was the first time the gravity of these distant crises became impossible to ignore. The mourning of Salgado's passing in Brazil and around the world is a testament to the power and necessity of his life's work. His legacy is to expose, provoke, and bear witness through art, to the realities of a troubled, yet beautiful, world.
Gabriel Leão works as a journalist and is based in São Paulo, Brazil. He has written for outlets in Brazil, the U.K., Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. such as WIRED, Al Jazeera, Dazed, Vice, Dicebreaker, Scarleteen, Women's Media Center, Clash, Anime Herald, Anime Feminist, and Brazil's ESPN Magazine having started his career at Brazil's TV Cultura as an intern. Leão also holds a master's degree in communications and a post-grad degree in foreign relations.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
