Steve McCurry became world famous after taking his iconic picture of the refugee girl Sharbat Gula in 1984. “Afghan Girl”, the girl with the emerald eyes, has become the best known picture ever featured in National Geographic. Resembling a Mona Lisa of the refugee world, the photo came to symbolize human endurance.
“Steve McCurry is an icon in the prime of life and undoubtedly one of the greatest colour photographers of our time. His pictures exemplify hard work. They display a marvellous tangible quality, as well as intimacy, intensity and a photographic ‘coup d’oeil’ that is exceptional. McCurry uses colours in the same way a painter does, and he has a unique sense of both colour and light. At the same time, there remains something strikingly simple about his work. He has an extraordinary capacity for capturing the gaze of his subjects, which adds an extra veneer of distinctiveness to his pictures.” – Morten Krogvold, Nordic Light’s Artistic Director
Born in a suburb of Philadelphia in 1950, 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. Travelling 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 Mujahideen, 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.
FESTIVAL
Nordic Light
April 23 – 27, 2013
Exhibitions until May 5, 2013
Kristiansund
Norway
