81-3 Sejong-ro, Jongno-gu
9th April- 30th May
Opening hours: Monday- Saturday 9am- 6pm, closed Sunday
Admission: adults 12,000 won
We’re very lucky at the moment in Seoul to have Steve McCurry’s largest ever solo exhibition, ‘Unguarded Moment,’ showing in the Sejong Centre near Anguk. Steve McCurry is the National Geographic photojournalist who shot to fame when his photograph, ‘Afghan Girl,’ (1984) was published on the front of the magazine. I’m sure that most people will have at least seen this haunting picture of a young refugee girl with arresting green eyes that look out to the viewer and contrast with the rich burgandy of her worn attire. Over 20 years on from the taking of that photograph for which McCurry will always be remembered for, ‘Unguarded Moment,’ presents an incredible overview of his work.
The first thing that is so striking about McCurry’s photos is the subject matter. The photos are predominantly taken in war torn or poverty stricken countries in the Middle East and Asia. McCurry transports the viewer into opium fields and candy factories where young children are at work in Afghanistan. He takes us to oil fields which are ablaze in Kuwait. He takes us to Beirut where children play, carefree and laughing, upon an anti air craft gun on a backdrop of the wartorn city, empty ammunition shells at their feet. He shows us portraits of tired refugees. Most of the photographs have people as their subjects, each with different stories to tell. Tears, old weathered skin, rubble, scars, ragged clothes and desparate eyes tell stories of strife.
Steve McCurry, 'Young Boy, Peru,' 2004
‘Young Boy, Peru,’ (2004) has stuck in my head as one of the most upsetting images of the show. A young boy dressed in an old Spiderman T-shirt lets silent tears roll down his face as he holds a gun to his head, looking out with a scared yet defiant gaze. I felt voyeuristic as I looked at ‘A Mother and Child Beg, India,’ (1996). The photo is taken from the interior of a car whilst rain pours outside. A very young woman holding a small baby presses her hand against the streaked glass, looking in with pleading eyes. I had to make an effort to not look away when faced with some of the more upsetting images as I reminded myself that McCurry’s purpose was not to make his audience feel comfortable around these images.
However, some images were more lighthearted. A few photos documented smiling locals going about their daily business during monsoon season in India. I particuarly enjoyed ‘Man with Sewing Machine, India,’ (1983). It portrays a happy old man wading neck deep (!!!) in monsoon waters, floating his rusty but prized sewing machine alongside his head.
Steve McCurry, Kashmir Flower Seller, 1993
Aside from subject matter, there is no denying that McCurry’s sense of colour and composition add to the striking effects of his photographs. Orange robed monks at Angkor Wat bring to life the mossy brown greens of their surroundings. A procession of pink robed nuns in Burma carry red umbrellas upon a backdrop of an orange house in a rainbow burst. ‘Kashmir Flower Seller,’ (1993), shows a man rowing a wooden boat down a green algae topped river, headed for the horizon with a bounty of the most beautiful array of red, orange, white, yellow and purple flowers. The boat cuts a strong and pleasing diagonal towards the centre of the picture. ‘Boy in Mid-Flight, India, (2007), draws us into a multicoloured maze with the bold composition of a white wall with red handprints, towards a young boy who is skipping off into the maze, in a sort of modern day White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland way.
The fact that these pictures are taken outside make the colours even more astounding in the knowledge that there were no lights or trickeries used to capture them.
I hope I have managed to convey just how special these photographs are. Steve McCurry has taken painstaking efforts driven by his own passion to bring these ‘Unguarded Moments’ to us. These moments which are a million miles away from the setting that they are viewed in. Sad, melancholy, hopeful, desparate, painful, happy and beautiful moments. Each different photo and story begs the questions; where are these people now? What are their fates? Go and find out each picture’s story for yourself. Just be prepared to be put through an emotional mangle.
UrbanArt, who curated the show, also have a handful of Steve McCurry’s photographs on show in their Sinsa gallery if you happen to be in the area. See individual websites for details.
www.urbanart4u.com
www.sejongpac.or.kr
www.mccurrykorea.com
Tags: Sejong Centre
Sarah, I couldn’t agree more with your analysis of the exhibition, it was the most staggering collection of photographs I’ve seen in a long time and all under the same roof. I felt absoultely awestruck when I left the exhibiton space, dizzy with emotion and almost gasping for air from the sheer volume of striking images one after another. I was only disappointed by the exhibition space itself as I went on a public holiday (bad idea) and it was rammed full of people and had no aircon what-so-ever and strange lighting that often obscurred certain parts of/ colours of the photographs. As such a prominant exhibition space I really hope they sort out the aircon for the next exhibiton as I really could have stayed down there all day taking in the photographs had it not been so unbearably hot!
Thank you for your comment, Anna! Oh dear, public holidays and even weekends are not really good times to visit these big galleries, hey?! Evenings are best wherever possible! It is also a shame about the air con situation. I don’t mean to be negative but I find that a lot of the time, the big galleries in Seoul lose lots of brownie points (with me, haha!) over silly things like no air con and bad, or lack of, foreign translations. However, Steve McCurry was a truly incredible exhibition, I still think about it loads. The content, the colours, the composition… that man is a genius!