Steve McCurry – BABEL gallery

Steve McCurry • Silhouette of Men During Sunset, South Africa, 2013

Steve McCurry • Afghan Girl with Green Shawl, Peshawar, Pakistan, 2002

Steve McCurry • Monks Play Football, Burma, 1996

In Steve McCurry's 2009 photograph of a man running at dawn in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the early morning atmosphere is captured with McCurry’s trademark sense of color and composition. The runner, silhouetted against the warm, golden hues of the sunrise, moves along a coastline that is both vast and serene, with Rio’s iconic mountains rising majestically in the background. The image conveys a powerful sense of solitude and focus, as the lone figure embraces the peaceful quiet of dawn in one of the world’s most vibrant cities. McCurry’s eye for detail highlights not only the natural beauty of the scene but also the universal human drive for perseverance and inner strength. This image, like many of McCurry’s works, merges the beauty of the landscape with a moment of human resilience, creating a scene that feels both intimate and expansive.

Steve McCurry • Man Running at Dawn, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009

Procession of Nuns, Rangoon, Burma, 1994, presents an image inundated with vibrant colours of orange, pink, yellow and blue to contrast a serene and still moment. There is also a juxtaposition of colour with the darker pavement, allowing a contrast that further enhances the image’s potency. Framing the four figures, the composition is balanced. The nuns hold rice bowls for the locals to offer them food with which they will return to the nunnery. The blue door in the background acts as a focal point, drawing the viewers gaze to the centre of the image. Our eye is then led around the work by the linear formation created by the procession and their opened umbrellas, encouraging us to survey every aspect of the work.

Steve McCurry • Procession Of Nuns in Rangoon, Burma – 1994