The World of Steve McCurry

 

“Just the simple fact of travelling and exploring in depth different cultures brings me joy and
boundless energy.”

Steve McCurry is one of the greatest contemporary photographers and is and an inspiration for many people, especially the younger generation, who view his photos as a way to interpret our present day and age. Each of his pictures portrays a complex world of experiences and emotions.

With 140 large format photos, this is one of most extensive exhibitions of his work. The extraordinary retrospective features McCurry’s most famous iconic images that he took during his forty-year career, alongside his most recent works.

The exhibition begins with a series of black and white photos taken by Steve McCurry between 1979 and 1980 during his first reportage in Afghanistan, where he entered with a group of Mujahideen who fought the Soviet invasion. He returned many times, where he also photographed the girl in the Peshawar refugee camp in Pakistan, which has become an icon in the history of photography.

This legendary portrait is exhibited with another that McCurry shoot 17 years later, when he found the same young woman after a long search. 

The exhibition, conceived by Biba Giacchetti, takes the form of an extensive journey across the world of Steve McCurry, from Afghanistan to India, from South-East Asia to Africa, from Cuba to the United States, from Brazil to Italy, through his vast and fascinating repertoire of images in which the human element is always the main focus, even if the image is only fleeting.

Thanks to the extraordinary project by Biba Giacchetti and the design brilliance of Peter Bottazzi, this exhibition welcomes the visitor in a sort of dance that presents people of different ages, cultures and ethnic groups, which McCurry was able to portray with extraordinary intensity. McCurry narrates the exhibition’s audio guide, revealing the adventure of his life and journeys which discusses how the images were captured and who are the people depicted in them. The visit is enriched by some videos about his journeys, his adventures and his profession.

The exhibition shows McCurry’s lifetime achievements, revealing his way of photographing, as well as his desire to share the emotion in the face of human suffering, joy and wonder.

Steve McCurry: Afghan Girl «Afghan Girl» is probably Steve McCurry’s best-known work. In 1984, in the Afghan refugee camp Nasir Bagh, he succeeded in taking the portrait of a young girl. The girl´s picture with the emerald eyes went around the world. In 1985, the photo landed on the cover of National Geographic and has been published countless times since. In 2002, the identity of the girl was determined. National Geographic launched an expedition, in which Steve McCurry also participated, to find the girl. They succeeded in finding Sharbat Gula eight years after the world-famous photo was taken. The picture «Afghan Girl» can also be seen in Zurich.

Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 40 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over twenty books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.

About Steve McCurry 

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After several years of freelance work, McCurry made his first of what would become many trips to India. Traveling with little more than a bag of clothes and another of film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera. It was after several months of travel that he found himself crossing the border into Pakistan. There, he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian Invasion was closing the country to all western journalists. Emerging in traditional dress, with full beard and weather-worn features after weeks embedded with the Mujahedeen, McCurry brought the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue on every masthead.

Since then, McCurry has gone on to create stunning images over six continents and countless countries. His work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike; yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image.

McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest. The Minister of French Culture has also appointed McCurry a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and most recently, the Royal Photographic Society in London awarded McCurry the Centenary Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

McCurry has published books including The Imperial Way (1985), Monsoon (1988), Portraits (1999), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002), The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage (2003), Steve McCurry (2005), Looking East (2006), In the Shadow of Mountains (2007), The Unguarded Moment. (2009), The Iconic Photographs (2011), Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs (2013), From These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail (2015), India (2015), On reading (2016), Afghanistan (2017), Steve Mc Curry. A Life in Pictures (2018) and Steve Mc Curry Untold. The Stories Behind the Photographs (2018), Steve McCurry. Animals (2019), In search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images (2020).

Exhibition details 
Date 24.06. – 20.10.021
Venue MAAG Halle Zurich
Opening Hours 24.06. – 22.08.2021 THU/FRI/SAT
SUN
10 – 19 h (last entrance 18 h)
10 – 18 h (last entrance 19 h)
24.08. – 20.10.2021 TUE/WED/SUN
THU/FRI/SAT
10 – 18 h (last entrance 17 h)
10 – 19 h (last entrance 18 h)

Time slots Tickets can always be booked for admission on the half and full hour. The
visiting time of the exhibition is unlimited.

Ticket prices Prices in CHF incl. Audioguide TUE-FRI SAT/SUN
adults 25.00 27.00
children 6 – 16 years 14.00 16.00
children bis 5 years 4.00
Senior, Student, IV 22.00 24.00
Family (2a/2c 1a/3c) 65.00 61.00
schools 12.00
Pre Sale www.stevemccurry.ch, MAAG Shop 0900 444 262 (CHF 1.19/Min.), Ticketcorner
0900 800 800 (CHF 1.19/Min.)
Website www.stevemccurry.ch

• Maag Halle
• photography
• Steve McCurry