Steve McCurry Exhibits 150 Photos in Barcelona

Why this is here: McCurry regularly photographs his daughter each day, a personal practice alongside his decades-long documentation of people around the world.

Steve McCurry presents 150 photographs at the Palau Martorell in Barcelona, Spain. The exhibit showcases four decades of his work documenting people impacted by war, poverty, and displacement. McCurry, known for his 1984 portrait of “the Afghan girl,” also includes a 2002 photograph of another Afghan girl in Peshawar, Pakistan, highlighting the ongoing struggles of displaced people.

The photographer, from Philadelphia, began with a Kodak Brownie camera gifted by his father at age nine. His images focus on human faces and emotional impact, often capturing vulnerable lives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and beyond. McCurry recently photographed his daughter and wife, continuing a lifelong habit of documenting those close to him.

The exhibit features portraits from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in 2007, depicting children and adults enduring hardship. It also shows nomadic people and their threatened way of life, such as a man from the Kuchi tribe in Indian Kashmir. Though the exhibition previously appeared in Madrid with 100 photos, this Barcelona showing expands on his life’s work and continues to reveal both suffering and hope.