A look back at the masterclass with Steve McCurry

>Article by Emma Duquet, a student in the Culture policy stream at the School of Public Affairs

On the occasion of the exhibition "The World of Steve McCurry" at the Museum Maillol, the artist himself and the curator Biba Giacchetti, partners and friends for more than twenty-five years, met with the students of the School of Public Affairs of Sciences Po on the 9th of December 2021. 

This is the fourth time that the Museum Maillol has opened its doors to photography. After Frank Horvat in 1999, Bert Stern in 2006 and Weegee in 2007, it is Steve McCurry's turn to see a selection of one hundred and fifty of his photographs adorning the walls of the institution, much to the delight of Olivier Lorquin, Chairman of the Foundation Dina Vierny – Museum Maillol, who sees him as "a very great photographer and painter who, through the lens of his camera, expresses an extraordinary sensitivity".

The exhibition, which students of the Culture and Cultural policy & Management streams had the great opportunity to visit on the opening day, is a chance to offer a panorama of the now famous war photographer's fifty-year career. It really began in 1980 when he crossed the border into Pakistan and accompanied Afghan refugees to the heart of their bombed-out villages during the war that was shaking the country. His images were then published in the press all over the world; Steve McCurry joined the Magnum agency in 1992 and received the Award of Excellence from the National Press Photographer Association. His many photo essays in India and, more broadly, in South-West Asia, led to the publication of his book South-Southeast in 2000. The following decade was marked by his work on the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the first conflict to be documented in his own country, and by his project The last roll of Kodachrome, presenting thirty-six iconic photographs captured on the last film of the model. Since then, McCurry has travelled to new places, exploring Ethiopia, Cuba, and Antarctica, among other destinations. At the same time, he has been exploring other ways of exhibiting and presenting his images, notably through the digital and virtual world. 

If the photographer's images have made the rounds of newspapers around the world, like the portrait of the young Afghan woman with piercing eyes, it is also due to their aesthetic impact. Steve McCurry spoke of the importance of colour in his photographs, the importance of post-production and retouching, and their ability to touch the viewer: "each single picture has its single story, and we put ours in it" (Steve McCurry). "Sometimes with pictures and photography, what is interesting is that the imagination can go off in different directions. Everything should not be explained" (Steve McCurry): the photographer stresses the importance of leaving their share of mystery to the photographs, while Biba Giacchetti insists on the art of exhibiting them in order to orchestrate a curatorial "symphony". 

Steve McCurry was confronted with the horror of war; his images bear witness to this. If Susan Sontag suggests in Regarding the pain of others that photography “beautifies” and “bleaches out a moral response to what is shown”*, the photographer brings an entirely different perspective to the issue. He refers to the mission of war reporters to fight against the blindness and ineptitude of public opinion: "Should we be informed about what's happening in our world? Should we let our governments tell us ? I think that would be a very bad idea. [...] Somebody has to go and give us their impression. We need some person to go there and find the truth" (Steve McCurry). However, the violence of certain images considered shocking requires special attention from the curator and the artist, who prefer to show them only on rare occasions, for fear of breaking the dialogue with the viewer: "We need to be careful not to shock people's sensibilities. Some photographers do. Steve McCurry has that kind of horrific images, but it is too painful to go through" (Biba Giacchetti). Biba Giacchetti pays particular attention to making Steve McCurry's work accessible, trying to take on the role of the viewer as best she can when constructing her exhibitions. 

"In the World of Steve McCurry" will be held at the Museum Maillol until 29 May: an exhibition that we hope will leave a mark on people's minds with the power of images to be remembered: "A good picture is something that has memory; you can recollect a picture. It stays with you. Bad pictures are forgettable" (Steve McCurry).

*  Sontag Susan, Regarding the pain of others, Farrar, Straus et Giroux, New York, 2003.

learn more

• The Culture policy stream at the School of Public Affairs ("French track")
• The Cultural Policy and Management stream at the School of Public Affairs ("English track")

Video © Thomas Arrivé / Sciences Po - Photographs © SM / EAP