Lélia Wanick Salgado, curator

Lélia Wanick Salgado was born in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, and, early in her life, settled in Paris, France and studied architecture and urban planning. But her interest in photography began in the early 70’s and grew with the years. In the 80’s she worked with photography magazines, before becoming Director of the Paris Magnum Gallery. In 1987, Lelia created her own structure for the organization of photography exhibitions, as well as for the conception and design of photographic books, activities which she continues to exercise.

In 1994, Lélia Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado founded Amazonas images, a press agency in Paris, dedicated exclusively to Salgado’s work. Today this structure is their studio.

Lélia is the artistic director who, along with books, designs and curates numerous exhibitions of Sebastião’s work - more than 300 to this day, in major museums and galleries throughout the world. Books include Workers (1993) Terra (1997), Migration and The Children (2000), Africa (2007), Genesis (2013), The Scent of a Dream (2015), Kuwait, A Desert on Fire (2016), and this year 2019 Gold, Serra Pelada Gold Mine. She received awards for several of these books.

Together, Lélia and Sebastião have worked since the 1990’s on the restoration of a part of the Atlantic Forest in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. In 1998, they succeeded in turning this land into a nature reserve and created the Instituto Terra. The Instituto is dedicated to a mission of reforestation, conservation, environmental education, scientific research and sustainable development.

Lélia Wanick Salgado received several awards and honours for her environmental activities accomplished through Instituto Terra.