Photographer Sebastião Salgado dies at 81

French-Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, known for his large black-and-white photographs of conflicts and the Amazon rainforest, has died at the age of 81, the French Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was a member, announced on Friday (23).

“Laurent Petitgirard, perpetual secretary, the members and correspondents of the Academy of Fine Arts are deeply saddened to announce the death, this Friday, May 23, at the age of 81, of their companion Sebastião Salgado,” lamented the Academy, which in 2016 elected the photographer as one of its own, describing him as a “great witness to the human condition and the state of the planet.”

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