STEVE MCCURRY: PHOTOGRAPHS OF ASIA: Exhibition by National Geographic photojournalist in San Diego

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 5, 2005 -- San Diego, Ca.� Documentary photographer Steve McCurry roams the world capturing legendary images that have won him the highest international awards. The Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) is pleased to present 60 exquisite color photographs by this renowned photographer in an exhibition entitled Steve McCurry: Photographs of Asia. Providing a window into the peoples and cultures of the Asian continent, the images will be on view from May 29 � September 25, 2005.

McCurry is most famous for his mesmerizing Afghan Girl, the portrait of a young refugee that appeared on National Geographic�s cover in 1985. The portrait is one of the most memorable and recognizable photographs ever made and was named one of the top 100 National Geographic photographs by the magazine. After years of receiving inquiries about the identity of this mysterious woman, McCurry found her in 2002 and she again graced the cover of the magazine 17 years later.

For more than 25 years, McCurry has created evocative color imagery that documents the diverse cultures, peoples, and events of Asia, places many in the West knew little about until America's military involvement in Afghanistan as well as last December's tragic tsunami. McCurry has recently become a freelance photographer working on the Asian Continent for National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Geo, and other publications. His career was launched when he crossed the Pakistan border in native clothing into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian Invasion in 1979. He emerged with rolls of film sewn to his clothing. The images were published around the world and were the first to demonstrate the conflict there.

With vivid color, the exhibition Steve McCurry: Photographs of Asia highlights the rich history and the faces of the many places he has visited. The exhibition includes the Afghan Girl and photographs from his travels all over Asia. "McCurry has become a photographer of sensitivity and involvement not unlike Sebasti�o Salgado. What he sees, he honors by way of wanting us to see not just beauty in countries different from the West, but something of ourselves there," says MoPA's Curator, Carol McCusker.

McCurry has won numerous awards for his work including the National Press Photographers Association�s Magazine Photographer of the Year in 1984, the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad, an unprecedented four first prizes in the World Press Photo Contest, the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award twice, and the American Photo 2002 Photographer of the Year Award. He has published many books including South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary: The Temples of Angkor (2002), and The Path to Buddha (2003).

MoPA will host the artist for a lecture and book signing on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theater.