Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado

The couple married in 1967 in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, where Lélia was born and where Sebastião studied in economics. Sebastião is native of Aimorés, Minas Gerais. After having lived in Sao Paulo, they moved to Paris, France, where Sebastião studied for a doctorate and Lélia began architecture studies.

In 1971 they moved to London, where Sebastião worked as an economist for the International Coffee Organization. In 1973 they returned to Paris where Sebastião completely changed his career and began his life as a photographer and Lélia finished her studies and continued her post-graduate work in urban planning. Soon after, Lélia also joined the photography field and became an art director.

Ever since, they have worked together, he taking pictures and she organizing exhibitions and designing books. In 1994, they created Amazonas Images, a press agency exclusively dedicated to Sebastião’s work. They have two sons, the youngest has Down Syndrome.

Working on social subjects, the couple began to increase their awareness of the environment’s importance to human life and they felt a strong desire to become active in environmental issues. Since 1991, they worked on the restoration of part of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil and in 1998, they succeeded in making this land a nature preserve by creating the Instituto Terra.

Books by Sebastião Salgado

A world-renowned photographer and part of the tradition of “concerned photography,” Sebastião Salgado has been awarded virtually every major photographic prize and award in recognition of his accomplishments from institutions around the world.  Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado has designed all of his books.

Through a partnership with Amazon.com, a portion of the proceeds from each book sale from this site will be donated to Instituto Terra.