Many of you are probably familiar with one of her most famous shots: that of a young Afghan girl with green eyes, immortalized more than 30 years ago on the cover of the magazine. National Geographic. At the Maillol Museum, the exhibition “Le Monde de Steve McCurry” presents more than 150 of his photos printed in large format. Interview with one of the greatest photographers of our time.
The exhibition opens with a selection of black and white photos from the late 1970s. They were taken in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. Steve McCurry had entered the country illegally, at the request of Afghan refugees, when he did not initially intend to produce this report: ” In 1979, I met Afghan refugees in a small hotel in Pakistan. They begged me to come to their country, explaining that no one in the world is interested in what is happening in their country. They needed a witness. I had never covered a conflict like this. What I saw there was a real humanitarian disaster. I realized that it was necessary to return regularly to this country to bear witness to this situation. ”
It was also during this Afghan conflict that in 1984 he photographed the little Afghan girl with green eyes, his most famous photograph. In 2016, the press criticized him for retouching some of his photos. He denies it, asserting that the rare alterations concerned only personal works.
Steve McCurry in any case handles colors and contrasts in any situation, and for him no longer has to work in black and white: ” I started black and white photography for convenience as it was easy to develop film. I switched to color afterwards because it is the best way to show things in their reality. But we must not take it easy. An excess of color information can also interfere with the reading of an image. This imposes a rigor of framing and of the subject. Switching to color was a logical decision. ”
“The dignity of the human being and his feelings are the same everywhere in the world”
Of the 150 photos offered here, there are of course the tragic moments like the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, but also other lighter ones. Like for example the photo of a Thai child reading, leaning against an elephant.
As for the visitor, he can freely choose his route. No chronological or thematic classification is suggested. ” Visitors can stop wherever they want, retrace their steps, precisely because everything is mixed up, explains Biba Giachetti, curator of the exhibition. And why ? Because Steve has the idea that the human being, the dignity of the human being and his feelings are the same everywhere in the world, at all latitudes, even in very difficult situations. ”
Steve McCurry’s world takes us from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia and from Africa to Latin America. A repertoire of images which always keeps the Human as the main element.