This image presents a portrait of a young woman occupying the majority of the composition and gazing out into the viewer’s space. We are engulfed by her presence, the focused foreground heightening the authority of the sitter. The muted colour palette on her face contrasts with the vibrancy of her emerald shirt, further enriched by the vivid blues and reds of her jewelry. The softened red background frames this composition, continuing to draw our eye back to her, each time revealing a new detail.
McCurry wandered through Tibet photographing the people and places, connecting with those he met along the way in any way he could. Despite not speaking Tibetan, he used the universal language that photography presents to capture these novel moments. However, he was not solely interested in taking someone’s picture, ‘You take a walk, you meet people and many times those people aren’t going to result in a picture, but the encounter is worthwhile.’ During his time in Tibet in 1999, McCurry attended the annual Tagong horse fair, on the Kham grasslands of Eastern Tibet. More interested in the diversity of people attending this event than the event itself, it was here that this vibrant image was taken.
Dimensions: 12 x 10 Inches
Medium: Archival pigment print on 314gsm Epson Legacy Platine fine art paper
Provenance: Officially licensed by artist and publisher. Publishing information on back of print. Comes with gallery Certificate of Authenticity.
Edition: Limited Timed Edition of unknown edition size
Year: 1999 (created) 2024 (printed)
Condition: Excellent
ARTIST BIO
With his shrewd journalistic approach to photography, Steve McCurry has captured some of the most iconic images of the 20th and 21st centuries. McCurry creates straightforward representational photographs that seek to illuminate areas of the world and create narratives from honest depictions of people and places. The photographer is well known for his contributions to magazines such as National Geographic, which featured Afghan Girl—his infamous 1985 image—on its cover. The woman’s haunting green eyes and her location in a country hidden behind the Iron Curtain contributed to the photograph’s significance. “I think the best way to actually photograph somebody is to really look into their eyes,” McCurry has said. “The eyes are so expressive, they say so much about a person.” In recent years, McCurry has continued his journalistic investigations of the less fortunate in areas closer to his home, photographing abused domestic workers in the United States.