Discover the earth’s raw beauty through the lens of Sebastião Salgado

The Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado made his name with stunning images that document humanity’s devastating footprint on the natural world. Now he’s gone in a more optimistic direction with his latest project, Genesis. Travelling by boat, bush plane and hot-air balloon, Salgado visited 32 countries over eight years to capture the raw beauty of untouched—and, in many cases, un-photographed—mountains, oceans and deserts. At A Fragile Beauty, his ongoing exhibition at Nicholas Metivier Gallery, he showcases gelatin silver prints that feel more like chrome-infused paintings than true-to-life photographs: a colony of penguins playfully parading down an icy slide, a timid leopard stooping by the side of a lake and the claw of an iguana stretched out on a rock like a baby’s foot. The works may not be as damning as Salgado’s earlier images, but their message—one of hope—is just as affecting. Click through the image gallery for a look.

To Feb. 28. Nicholas Metivier Gallery, 451 King St. W., 416-205-9000, metiviergallery.com.