Press release
Steve McCurry
Icons and Women
Forli, San Domenico Museum
Piazza Guido da Montefeltro, 12
September 26th, 2015 - January 10th, 2016
Steve McCurry is one of the greatest masters of contemporary photography and is a reference point
for a very wide audience, especially young people, who recognize in his photos a way of looking at
our time and, in a sense, "they recognize themselves". In every Steve McCurry’s shot there is
enclosed a complex universe of experiences and emotions and many of his images, starting from
the portrait of Sharbat Gula, have become true icons, known everywhere in the world.
The new exhibition, staged at the prestigious Museum of San Domenico in Forlì, presents a selection
of Steve McCurry’s most famous images, along with some recent works and other pictures not yet
published in his many books. The exhibition, curated by Biba Giacchetti, offers a journey around the
man and our time, in an unprecedented feminine interpretation.
The arrival point, indeed, is the portrait of the Afghan girl in the refugee camp in Peshawar, which
became a unique icon of photography in the world, but also a symbol of hope for peace that seems
impossible in a world shaken by wars and mass exoduses. It will be shown next to the room of Ebe
by Canova, along with two other shots, one never shown before and the other made by McCurry
after more than seventeen years from the original one, after having finally found the girl, as shown
in the National Geographic video casted at the exhibition.
The starting point is an extraordinary gallery of portraits and other pictures in which the human
presence is always the protagonist, although only evoked. The appealing set up, conceived by Peter
Bottazzi exclusively for this exhibition, invites to a journey of discovery, which gradually collects in a
universe full of women, who comes to us with its looks, involving us with its collective dimension, in
a sort of merry–go-round where ages, cultures, ethnic groups are mixed together, and that McCurry
was able to capture with amazing intensity.
The exhibition also includes a section dedicated to the war, to violence and atrocities of which
humanity, unfortunately, becomes a protagonist, and that McCurry recorded with his reporter lens,
set up in a sort of vertigo that visitors have to cross to reach another environment, where poetry,
hospitality, peace will rule and where women are still the protagonists.
The exhibition, including more than 180 photos of various sizes, chosen by Biba Giacchetti with
Steve McCurry, comes along with an audio guide available to all visitors and included in the ticket.
The great photographer tells in first person his photos with anecdotes and exciting testimonies. It will
also be shown a video dedicated to his travels and his way of thinking about photography. To tell the
tale of his life and of his job, to follow the common thread of his passions, to learn his technique, but
also to share its proximity with the pain, joy and surprise. "I learned to be patient. If you wait long
enough, people forget the camera and their soul begins to soar towards you".
In addition to a now vast literature about McCurry, in the exhibition bookshop it will be available the
book McCurry / Icons, edited by Biba Giacchetti, presenting a selection of fifty among his most
famous or beautiful pictures, or for which McCurry has a special feeling. In a long conversation
between the two of them, Steve McCurry, for the first time, tells its icons, often revealing the
backstory.
Promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Forlì and the Municipality of Forli together with
the Settimana del Buon Vivere, the exhibition is organized and produced by Civita in co-operation
with Sudest57. Within the Settimana del Buon Vivere, on September 25th, there will be a meeting
and interview with Steve McCurry.