'Afghan Girl' photographer Steve McCurry exhibition opens in Paris

Retrospective encompasses images from American's 40-year career

'Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl. Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984'. All Photos: Steve McCurry / Musee Maillol

The World of Steve McCurry is the largest and most complete retrospective dedicated to the photographer.

More than 150 large-format photographs by renowned American photographer Steve McCurry are being exhibited at Musee Maillol in Paris.

'Two Women Mourn in Cemetery. Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2007'.

'Man Walks in Alleyway. Havana, Cuba, 2010'.

'Mujahideen Watch a Soviet Convoy. Nuristan, Afghanistan, 1979'.

'Shrine of Hazrat Ali, Blue Mosque. Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, 1991'.

'Boys Running With hoops Along Baobab Avenue, Morondava, Madagascar, 2019'.

'Wadi Rum, Petra, Jordan, 2019'.

'Mudmen, Papua New Guinea, 2017'.

The exhibition runs from December 9, 2021 to May 29, 2022.

'Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, 1983'.

'Afghan Women at Shoe Store. Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992'.

'Camels and Oilfields. Al Ahmadi, Kuwait, 1991'.

An exhibition by the renowned American photojournalist Steve McCurry will include work from his stellar four-decade career capturing images from around the world.

The Musee Mailol in Paris is staging "The World of Steve McCurry" from December 2021 until May 2022 and will display more than 150 large-format photographs in what has been described as his largest and most complete retrospective to date.

It encompasses images taken during McCurry's extensive travels during which he focused on the daily lives of people from Afghanistan, India, Cuba and beyond.

The theme of the staging is to show McCurry's work does not shy away from the brutality of war and violence “but also embraces humanity in all of its manifestations".

McCurry came to prominence following the publication of the Afghan Girl portrait in National Geographic in 1984, which eventually became the most famous cover in the magazine's history.

The haunting image, taken at a refugee camp in Pakistan, shows a young woman with piercing green eyes looking intensely at McCurry's camera.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the subject of the photo, 49-year-old Sharbat Gula, had been granted asylum in Italy following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.