Recent Releases

“Sebastião Salgado always loved his parents’ farm in the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) of Brazil, and this love of the land would blossom into a career as an award-winning photographer and photojournalist. Hoelzel’s lyrical text describes Salgado’s interconnected journey from photographer to environmental conservationist in this stunning picture-book biography. After speaking out against Brazil’s government, Salgado and his wife, Lélia, were forced to flee to Paris. There, Lélia purchased Salgado his first camera, unexpectedly setting him on a new path, captured symbolically through an image of his awakening mind. In exquisitely detailed watercolor-and-pencil illustrations, Alarcão recreates Salgado’s style and the landscapes in which he worked as he used photography to tell the stories of people and their struggles. Overwhelmed by hopelessness after observing so much tragedy, however, Salgado only wanted to return to his beloved homeland. Once a paradise, his family’s farm was now in ruins from deforestation. Upon Lélia’s suggestion that they plant a new rain forest, Salgado becomes newly inspired to photograph the planet’s last remaining natural spaces and humans’ connection to them—work he continues to this day. Alarcão’s visual representations are as bold as Salgado’s dreams. The biography concludes with information about Sebastião and Lélia Salgado’s environmental education center and the Mata Atlântica as well as a map of the area.”

— Leon Wagner