This Unstill Life

AGENDA ART PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY TAGORE SUNDARAM THE OF COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS THIS UNSTILL LIFE Steve McCurry, the legendary photojournalist behind National Geographic’s 1985 “Afghan Girl” cover, captures moments of conflict and quietude in a landmark exhibit at the Ayala Museum WORDS BY PAYA L U T TA M / PHOTOS BY STEVE MCCURRY MORE THAN 30 YEARS HABITS AND VEILS have passed, but everyone From top: Jodhpur Fruit still remembers the “Afghan Girl” with her Vendor, India, digital c-print, piercing green eyes and haunting gaze. Te 40” x 60”; A young monk runs along the wall over his peers photograph, published on the cover of National at the Shaolin Monastery in Geographic in 1985, spread across the globe and Henan Province, China, digital put a face to the Soviet-Afghan war. Te man c-print, 40” x 60”. Opposite, left to right: Girl with green behind the camera was the young American shawl, Peshawar, Pakistan, photojournalist Steve McCurry, who has since digital c-print, 60” x 40”; built his name with probing portraits of conficted Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India, digital c-print, 20” x 60”. regions and vanishing cultures worldwide. Now 65, he still has the hunger and drive of a young war photographer traveling non-stop to build his archive of award-wining work. From February 17 to March 27, the Ayala Museum will be showcasing a series of McCurry’s photographs during Art Fair Philippines. Te exhibition, organized in partnership with Sundaram Tagore Gallery and Collective 88, is titled Te World We 20 FE BRUARY 2016 ‘THE WORLD WE LIVE IN: THROUGH THE LENS OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY’ RUNS FROM FEB. 17 TO MARCH 27, 2016 (TUESDAY TO SUNDAY, 9 A.M. TO 6 P.M.) AT THE AYALA MUSEUM, MAKATI AVE. COR. DE LA ROSA ST., GREENBELT, MAKATI. Live In: Trough the Lens of Contemporary diferent islands. I was fascinated with the culture Photography. It features his images from the McCurry followed and the music,” says McCurry. “I was looking at Philippines, Afghanistan, India, Lebanon, and social life, religious life, economic life—I wanted Turkey, alongside a selection of work by other to see and explore everything.” noted photographers. Te show comes on the Mujahideen fighters into Te same desire to memorialize the landscape heels of a major exhibition at Sundaram Tagore and culture of the Philippines can be found in his Gallery in Singapore showcasing 53 iconic works war-torn Afghanistan. series on India, a country he traveled to more handpicked by the artist. than 80 times and one that continues to exert a Born in Philadelphia, McCurry studied Weeks later, he emerged pull on him. Earlier this year, Phaidon released a cinematography before he began working at a lushly colored photo book entitled India, newspaper. After a couple of years of freelance with precious rolls of featuring several of the photographer’s unseen work, he set of to explore India. He eventually works. On view at the Ayala Museum is made his way to Pakistan, where refugees from film sewn into his worn breathtaking work from 2010, which captures the Afghanistan smuggled him across the border into electrifying blue-tinted buildings of Jodhpur as their country. Donning traditional garb, he well as an intimate portrait of devotees outside followed Mujahideen fghters and militia groups clothes. the Golden Temple of Amritsar. often traveling by foot at night to stay out of view Among other highlights of the show are of Soviet helicopters. Weeks later, he emerged unguarded images of children peering out from with precious rolls of flm sewn into his worn Magnum photos to cover Ferdinand Marcos and the trunk of a taxi in Afghanistan. Presenting a clothes and brought the world the frst images of the People Power revolution, as well as to work striking contrast to the solemn-faced fgures in the Afghan-Soviet confict. His intimate, on a project for National Geographic. Venturing this scene is a photograph of lively children near empathetic photographs of the rebel groups into remote regions of the country, he captured Beirut who had leapt onto a large anti-aircraft earned him the prestigious Robert Capa Gold dramatic landscapes and scenes of everyday life gun to investigate the weapon. Te latter is a Medal Award in 1980, and he soon signed with with the hope of recording what he described as poignant work revealing the fortitude of the the famed Magnum picture agency. lost moments of culture. Te works on display human spirit, showing how even in the most Tis insightful exhibition reveals that range from ancient emerald-green rice terraces in dangerous situations, children continue to play. alongside Afghanistan, McCurry forged a deep Banaue to a raw portrait of a young fsherman’s Indeed, each of McCurry’s images share a similar relationship with the Philippines that stretches daughter with a steely expression adrift on a boat tenacity and enduring quality and, like “Afghan back to the 80s, a formative period of his career. in the Sulu Sea. “It’s a strikingly beautiful country Girl,” are likely to linger in our collective memory He frst traveled to the country on assignment for with beautiful beaches, mountains, and so many for decades to come. n FE BRUARY 2016 21 .

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