STEVE MCCURRY

Sundaram Tagore Singapore is pleased to announce an exhibition of iconic images by world-renowned photographer Steve McCurry.

Best known for his evocative colour images, the American photographer specially selected fifty-three photographs for this exhibition, including images from Afghanistan, Burma, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Tibet and Sri Lanka, as well as a large body of work from India. The images, many of which have become modern icons, span more than thirty years his career.

Steve McCurry was born in 1950 in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied film at Pennsylvania State University and after graduating cum laude he worked as a photojournalist for a local newspaper. Upon visiting India in 1978, the first of countless visits, McCurry embarked on what were to become the formative years of his astonishing career. As the Soviet-Afghan war commenced and Western journalists were prohibited from entering Afghanistan, McCurry crossed the border from Pakistan. He became the first photographer to bring the world images of the Afghan conflict.

McCurry has since travelled extensively around the globe for his photographic projects, covering areas of international and civil conflict and documenting ancient traditions, vanishing cultures and contemporary culture. In each of his images he transcends cultural boundaries to capture the essence of human struggle, joy and unguarded moments. McCurry’s exquisite use of colour and his unwavering commitment to retain the human element have made his images timelessly captivating.

Steve McCurry has been honoured with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest. In 2013 the Minister of French Culture appointed him Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. Most recently, the Royal Photographic Society in London awarded McCurry the Centenary Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

McCurry’s work has been the subject of solo shows at museums and galleries worldwide, including the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; Arsenale di Venezia, Italy; Seoul Arts Center, South Korea; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany; and the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. His work is in numerous collections, including The Elton John Collection, Atlanta; Musée National d’art Moderne, Paris; The International Center of Photography and The George Eastman Museum, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

In addition to McCurry’s scores of book and magazine covers, his publications include The Imperial Way (1985), Monsoon (1988), Portraits (1999), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002), The Path to Buddha (2003), Steve McCurry (2005), Looking East (2006), In the Shadow of Mountains (2007), The Unguarded Moment (2009), The Iconic Photographs (2011), Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs (2013), From These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail (2015), and India (2015).