A new project dedicated to copyright photography of the Museum of Cultures of Milan starts from the collection of some of the most beautiful photos of Steve McCurry. The Municipality of Milan-Culture, MUDEC and 24 ORE Cultura-24 ORE Group, in collaboration with SUDEST57, have decided to entrust the opening of sixty shots by the great American photographer MUDEC PHOTO. The theme at the center of the exhibition is Animals, an exhibition project specially created for the Museo delle Culture, curated by Biba Jackets. The exhibition will be open to visitors until March 31st.
The review brings together the photographer's iconic shots, among the most famous and the lesser known ones and which will tell the visitor stories of everyday life and the bond that is established between animals and humans.
The Animals project originates in 1992 when the photographer Steve McCurry carries out a mission in the war territories in the Gulf area to document the disastrous environmental and faunal impact in the places of conflict. McCurry will return from that experience with some of the shots that have consecrated him in the Olympus of photography, such as the one of the camels crossing the burning oil wells and the migratory birds completely sprinkled with oil. In particular, the photographer with this shot will win the prestigious prize of W which was assigned to him by a special jury, the Children Jury, made up of children from all nations.
Steve McCurry has always placed the lens at the center of his projects the stories related to the most fragile categories: explored, with particular attention to children, the condition of civilians in conflict areas; he documented endangered ethnic groups and the consequences of natural cataclysms. Starting from that service of '92 he finally added, to his innumerable looks, the empathetic one towards animals, understood as a way to survival, animals exploited as the only resource in a condition of misery, still other times loved and recognized as life companions to alleviate miseries, or simply for a form of symbiotic affection; always in the spirit of an explorer of human relationships, as stated in the official note of the Museo delle Culture in Milan.
To create the Animals exhibition, the author and curator worked in unison by delving into the photographer's immense archive to select one collection of images that tell the different conditions of the animals in a single fresco. The itinerary of the exhibition leaves the visitor with maximum freedom, while establishing an invisible map articulated on different emotional registers, capable of alternating the most demanding images with others of great lightness and positivity.
“Animals invites us to reflect on the fact that we are not alone in this world” explains the curator of the exhibition Biba Giaccatti who continues “in the midst of all the living creatures around us. But above all, she leaves visitors with a message: that although humans and animals share the same earth, only we humans have the power to defend and save the planet."
Steve McCurry explorer of mankind offers a journey into the contiguity of the animal planet, talks about relationships and consequences; his indelible images are timeless; and, as happens to those who tirelessly travel to tell stories, he seems to show nostalgia for a world in continuous and dangerous transformation that he can only document.
