Paris city hall has inaugurated a free exhibition featuring around 200 photographs by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who died in May 2025 at age 81. Curated by his lifelong companion Lélia Wanick Salgado, the display covers phases of his career, emphasizing themes such as migration, labor, inequality, and environmental preservation.
Sebastião Salgado, one of the world's foremost documentary photographers born in 1944 in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is being honored posthumously in Paris, the city he chose as his home. The free public exhibition showcases around 200 black-and-white images that define his distinctive style and dedication to social and environmental causes.
Lélia Wanick Salgado, who introduced the former economist to photography in 1970s Paris—where the couple settled after leaving Brazil amid the military dictatorship—curated the show. It includes projects like Instituto Terra, a reforestation effort by Salgado and his family to revive deforested areas.
Over decades, Salgado captured harsh global realities to inspire reflection and change. The exhibition runs until May 2026, cementing his humanist legacy.