An uncertain grace

From a Brazilian mine where 50,000 mud-covered men haul heavy sacks of dirt up and down slippery ladders in search of a stray nugget of gold, to a former lake in western Africa now swallowed by the encroaching desert, where emaciated, starving people walk over its surface of sand, photographer Sebastião Salgado explores the lives of the world's often-ignored people with a critical eye and an empathetic heart. An internationally renowned exemplar of the venerated tradition of 'concerned photography', Sebastião Salgado has been awarded virtually every major photographic prize in recognition of his accomplishments. In 1994 he left the Magnum photo agency to form his own press agency, Amazonas Images.