Graduated as an economist, Sebastião Salgado began his career as a photographer in 1973 in Paris, working with the Sygma, Gamma and Magnum Photos photo agencies. Today, with Lélia Wanick Salgado, his life and work partner, he has his own agency. He has travelled to more than 100 countries for his photographic projects, which, in addition to innumerous publications in the international press, have been presented in several books and exhibitions — conceived and designed by Lélia — such as "Sahel, l'homme en détresse", "Other Americas", "Workers", "Terra", "Exodus", "Africa", "Genesis", "Gold" and "Amazônia". He is a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts de France, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Doctor Honoris Causa of Harvard University (USA), and his major honours include the Primo Levi Prize (Italy), the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the Praemium Imperiale Prize of the Japan Art Association, considered to be the Nobel Prize of the Arts.
In 1998, he and Lélia set up Instituto Terra in Brazil, a non-profit civil organization focusing on reforestation, environmental education and sustainable rural development in the Rio Doce valley, in the state of Minas Gerais. To date, the Instituto Terra has planted more than three million trees, creating a forest that is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna found only in the Atlantic rainforest.
In 2021, the couple launched their latest project "Amazônia": a book and major photographic exhibition on the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous communities, calling for the preservation of this biodiversity that is so important for the planet and for the protection of these threatened populations.