Milan, 23 May (LaPresse/Ap) – Photographer Sebastião Salgado died on Friday at the age of 81. Known for his documentary work and his distinctive black-and-white visual style, he received virtually every major photography award in the world. The news of his death was confirmed by the Terra Institute he founded, but no further details were given about the circumstances of Salgado's death or where it occurred. ‘Sebastião was more than one of the best photographers of our time,’ the Terra Institute said in a statement. ‘His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life carried with it the power of transformative action.’ Salgado's life and work were chronicled in the documentary “The Salt of the Earth” (2014), co-directed by Wim Wenders and his son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Salgado lived in Paris for many years and began to devote himself fully to photography in 1973, years after graduating in economics. His style is characterised by black and white images, intense tones and emotionally charged scenes. Poor communities were among his main interests. His major works include the recent series “Amazonia”, “Workers”, which shows manual labour around the world, and “Exodus” (also known as “Migrations” or “Sahel”), which documents people in transit, including refugees and slum dwellers. Salgado and his wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, founded Amazonas Images, an agency dedicated exclusively to his work.
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