Sebastião Salgado: Glaciers

One of the world’s best-known artists, as well as photographer, activist and humanist, throughout his long career Sebastião Salgado (1944-2025) has chronicled profound social, environmental and economic changes, giving voice to the last on the planet. In recent years he has taken hundreds of shots of one of the most striking natural environments and at the same time one of the most endangered ecosystems: that of the perennial snows.

From the ice fields of Patagonia and the peaks of the Himalayas to the vast shelves of Antarctica and the volcanic flanks of Kamchatka, these images record the forms, textures, and scale of glacial landscapes around the world. Shot in Salgado’s large-format, black-and-white style, the photographs emphasize the physical presence of ice—its ridges, fractures, density, and drift. Light and shadow reveal the structural complexity of each scene, from massive crevasses to the delicate patterns of wind-swept snow. An essay by climate scientist Elisa Palazzi examines the science of glacier formation, transformation, and decline. Pairing meticulous sequencing with refined design and premium duotone printing, the book offers a focused and enduring portrait of the world’s glaciers at a critical moment in their history.