“In GENESIS, nature spoke to me through my camera. And I was allowed to listen .” – Sebastião Salgado

Sebastião Salgado  was 26 years old when he picked up a camera for the first time in 1970. It was a moment that changed him fundamentally. Looking through the viewfinder of a camera, life suddenly took on a whole new meaning for him—he had found his medium, even if it would take years of hard work before he could actually earn a living as a photographer. Salgado, who "always preferred the chiaroscuro of black-and-white images," took very few color photographs early in his career, eventually giving it up altogether.

Growing up on a farm in Brazil, Salgado felt a deep connection with nature from a young age. At the same time, he also developed a keen eye for the precarious socioeconomic conditions under which many people have to eke out a living. Of the countless works that Sebastião Salgado created, rise three long-term projects particularly highlighted: Workers (1993) documents the gradual disappearance of traditional craft work worldwide and Migration (2000) the mass migration movements driven by wars, oppression, hunger and natural disasters, as well as environmental destruction and the pressure of demographic change. His work genesis (2013) has set itself a goal that the Instituto Terra, founded by Sebastião and Lélia Salgado, is also committed to: to raise our awareness of how precious the last untouched corners of our planet are—for ourselves and for future generations. And what better way to do this than by showing us the beauty of this world? Genesis , the result of eight years of intensive travel , now shows us these last natural areas – deserts , seas , primeval forests –, which have escaped the grasp of our modern civilization , and the people and animals , who live in them . "Around 46% of the planet is still in the same state it was in when it was created," Salgado reminds us. "We must preserve what we have."