Steve McCurry, Forli hosts world premiere of major food exhibition featuring 80 largely unpublished photographs

From Sept. 21, 2019 to Jan. 6, 2020, the San Domenico Museums in Forlì will host the world premiere of a never-before-seen exhibition featuring the shots of Steve McCurry, 4-time World Press Photo winner: it is Food, a photographic account of food as a universal element, albeit so different from country to country, a world tour of the ways of producing, transforming and consuming it in highlighting its value, attention to non-waste and the culture to which it refers, a bridge of knowledge between peoples. With 80 shots, most of which have never been exhibited and printed before, the exhibition, produced by Civitas srl and curated by Monica Fantini, Fabio Lazzari and Biba Giacchetti with the support of the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì, is part of the Good Living Exhibitions chapter of the homonymous territorial marketing project.

“Each of Steve McCurry’s photographs,” stresses Monica Fantini, curator of the Exhibitions of Good Living together with Fabio Lazzari and Biba Giacchetti, “seeks the universal in the particular. It is paradigmatic of a person or an entire community: it is true for the moving figures eating a meal in solitude or pain, as for the fragments of markets in which fish, fruit or spices become smells, sounds, flavors and emotional participation in a reality that, in differences, brings back to the equality of human beings.”

The exhibition’s scenic design, conceived by Peter Bottazzi, unfolds in five sections that follow the life cycle of food. The photographs, taken by McCurry between Latin America, Asia and Europe during his more than 30-year career, are accompanied by scenic structures and videos that make the visit an immersive experience from a physical and emotional point of view. After the first section that introduces the life cycle of food, the second shows bread as a primary food, a universal language. The third section is devoted to the production of food and then to work in the fields, plantations and at sea. The fourth focuses on the transformation of food, while the fifth is devoted to the cohesion it generates, to being together in consuming it, in feeding ourselves, in not wasting it, food restored to its central value of life.

Born in 1950 in suburban Philadelphia, McCurry studied film and history at Pennsylvania State University before going to work at a local newspaper. After many years as a freelancer, McCurry took a trip to India, the first of a long series. With little more than a backpack for clothes and another for film, he paves his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera. At the border with Pakistan, he meets a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who allow him to enter their country illegally, just as the Russian invasion was closing the borders to all Western journalists. Reemerging in traditional clothes and a thick beard, McCurry spent weeks among the Mujahideen so he could show the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, finally putting a human face on every headline. Since then, McCurry has continued to take breathtaking photographs on all six continents. His work tells of conflicts, disappearing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary cultures, but always keeping at the center the human element that made his most famous image, the Afghan girl, such a powerful photo. McCurry has been the recipient of some of photography’s most important awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the National Press Photographers’ award, and has won the World Press Photo four times. The French minister of culture has made him a knight of the Order of Arts and Letters; more recently, the Royal Photographic Society in London awarded him the Centenary Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

Steve McCurry’s Food exhibition is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The box office closes one hour earlier. Closed all Mondays and December 25. Special openings on December 24 and 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., January 1, 2020 from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., December 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets: full 12 euros, reduced 10 euros for groups between 15 and 25 people, under 18 and over 65, holders of special agreements, university students with ID. Free for children up to 6 years old, one accompanying person per group, disabled persons with accompanying person, two accompanying persons per school group, journalists with badges, tour guides with badges. For information about the exhibition: info@mostramccurry.it, www.mostramccurry.it.

Image: Steve McCurry, Wadi Hadramaut, Yemen, 1999 © Steve McCurry.

Steve McCurry, Forli hosts world premiere of major food exhibition featuring 80 largely unpublished photographs

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