Your article (‘Let Amazonians speak for themselves’: trouble in paradise for Sebastião Salgado’s Amazônia, 17 January) commits a grave injustice to the work and legacy of the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Salgado primarily photographs Indigenous groups in their traditional way of life. Communities such as the Suruahá, Zo’é, and Korubo are depicted exactly as they live: Indigenous peoples who have been recently contacted do not wear clothing.
These images are central for Brazilian culture, and more importantly, they serve to draw global attention to the need for conservation of the forest – without which these communities cannot survive. Salgado was fully aware that to capture global attention, he needed to reach the depths of the Amazon, photographing areas to which only the Brazilian government, through its National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai), can grant access.
