by Daniela Mericio
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Stories of men which meet stories of animals, narrated by a brilliant poet of contemporary photography: Steve McCurry. Animals is the project with which the Museum of Cultures in Milan inaugurates MUDEC PHOTO, the new space dedicated to author photography. A piece that was missing at the Milanese museum, whose proposal, open to different cultures and art forms, could not ignore the photographic language, which, perhaps more than any other, allows us to explore reality in its thousand facets.
Steve McCurry has a great empathy towards animals, the same empathy we find in his shots dedicated to distant corners of the world, to forgotten ethnic groups, to intense portraits, to universal emotions captured in extremely fragile contexts. An amazing sensitivity that makes his images unique and emblematic. The 60 photographs on display, taken in different places and moments, between the beginning of the 80s and 2018, illustrate, for better or for worse, the relationship between man and animals. Selected among the most significant on the subject in the long career of the American master some are known for the symbolic strength, for the delicacy, for the message of harmony with nature that they can convey. Like the shot of the boy absorbed in reading joined by a young elephant, in a repopulation centre in Thailand: already the cover of the book On reading, the image suggests a relationship, an exchange, even if in reality the elephant is only blissfully scratching on a stone. Or the woman, covered by the burqa, surrounded by doves with which she seems to communicate. Or the Indian asleep on a bench in the company of a dog, who naps under the bench in a symmetrical position to that of the man.
In the semi-darkness of the exhibition space, prints capture the attention with their bright colours, colours of which the great American photographer is considered a master. They are arranged following a “map” that groups images by themes, without imposing a precise path: the exhibition, as explained by the curator Biba Giacchetti, wants to leave the viewer free to interact, to make comparisons, to reflect. Sometimes the images are of immediate comprehension, like the man who comforts his dog by hugging him among the ruins of Kabul; others, more enigmatic, show a situation beyond which one senses a story that the image suggests and which asks for further investigation: like the photograph of the majestic Kuchi dog tied on the back of a bicycle led by its master in a scenario full of rubbles: the destination is not a picnic, unfortunately, but a dog fight.
Pets, life partners or wild animals, portrayed in their natural environment. The style and situations are many: ranging from irony to tenderness, from collaboration to exploitation, to the environmental catastrophe documented by the famous report made by McCurry during the first Gulf War in Kuwait: when the defeated Saddam Hussein ordered his army to set fire to more than 600 oil wells, causing unprecedented devastation. Birds covered in oil, camels fleeing in an apocalyptic landscape, helpless cows in front of tanks, disoriented horses against a background of flames. McCurry captures the viewer’s emotionality and disdain without resorting to gory details, with the power of compositions that transform images into icons. A style ruled by respect for the viewer and for the subject of the photograph.
Many shots tell of valuable help in the daily work or of the simple sharing of moments in life; shepherds with goats in India or Yemen, the sleeping baby between the legs of his cow in Nepal, the donkey family in Afghanistan, the keeper of geese in Indonesia. Others are real portraits, where the focus is on expressions and positions of the animal, trying to highlight its personality: a seal, a baboon, a gorilla become almost “characters”. Like the pink poodle, busy paying homage to the “star” of David Wolper, producer of a documentary about dogs, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The most playful and light section is the one where humans of the most diverse latitudes pose for a portrait next to the beloved animal. Harmony, feelings, similarities emerge: that is, the elective affinities that unite every man (or woman) with his “puppy”, more or less tamed or tameable. The results are intense, caring, ironic, sometimes exhilarating. Large portraits, juxtaposed when they present similarities or analogies: father and son with puppy dog in Marseilles and boy with monkey on the leash of Uzbekistan; the child from Guarajat, India, with the snake around his neck and the muscular young man from Los Angeles with the iguana on his shoulder; the Ethiopian girl with the hen in her arms and the Indian girl with the two white mice on her neck. To each his own, including Fred Hayman, a wealthy owner of a German shepherd with whom he poses on a flaming yellow car. A very different environment from the one of another German shepherd, the faithful companion of a boy armed with machine guns in Afghanistan, but the same bond.
Animals is part of a larger project: a big book entirely dedicated to animals, on which McCurry’s staff is working and whose publication is expected in 2020. A project that kindles reflection on the fact that among living beings there is a deep bond, created by the great mystery of life, which deserves to be explored. Different creatures share space on the same planet, on the protection of which human beings have immense responsibility.
The exhibition:
STEVE MCCURRY | ANIMALS
MUDEC – Museo delle Culture di Milano
Via Tortona, 56, Milano
December 16th, 2018 – March 31st, 2019
http://www.mudec.it/ita/steve-mccurry/
Mon 2:30 ‐ 7:30 pm
Tue, Wed, Fry, Sun 09:30 am ‐ 7:30 pm
Thu, Sat 9:30 am ‐ 10:30 pm
January 2, 2019
