World-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado, who passed away earlier this year, spent over four decades capturing the extremes of the human and natural condition. This major retrospective at Fotografiska Shanghai (through November 9) brings together images from apocalyptic gold mines in Brazil, famine zones in the Sahel, glaciers in the Arctic, and mythic wildlife in the Amazon. It's not a quiet show.
About the Artist
Sebastião Salgado wasn't just a photographer; he was a high priest of black-and-white humanism. You might knowhim from The Saltof the Earth, the Oscar-nominated doc by Wim Wenders and his son, or Genesis, his final project, an ecological love letter to untouched nature after decades of documenting human suffering. This show spans it all: 40+ years of turning brutal realities into something beautiful. Sublime, even.
What to Expect
Salgado's style is instantly recognizable: stark black-and-white, large-scale prints, heavy chiaroscuro. It's photojournalism as visual opera. Room after room, bodies become monuments, communities become myth. It's a dense, relentless exhibition, deliberately so. The images don't just document; they hit like history.
Tips: Don't Rush It
This is over 40 years of work across multiple continents. Give yourself time. Salgado showed the world at its most raw and most luminous, and he made sure we saw it.
One general admission ticket gets you access to all exhibitions at Fotografiska, including this one. Click here to get yours.
