September 18, 2007 - January 25, 2008

The Morris Museum will present Pilgrimage: Photographs by Steve McCurry, a dramatic exhibition featuring fifty photographs by international photojournalist Steve McCurry in its Main Gallery.

The framed images are representative of over 25 years of

work by the acclaimed photographer who travels the world capturing unique stories of life. With an unfailing eye for details, McCurry is best known for his unforgettable photograph of the green-eyed Afghan girl which was featured on the 1985 cover of National Geographic magazine.

Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992©

The exhibition, which includes the iconic photograph, reveals the tragedies, joys, indomitable spirit and shared umanity of people throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North and South America.

Born in Philadelphia, McCurry graduated from the College of Arts and Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. After working at a newspaper for a few years, he left for India to freelance. It was there that he learned to watch and wait on life, capturing many unforgettable images through the medium of photography.

His career excelled when he crossed the Pakistani border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan dressed in native garb, just before the Russian invasion. Emerging with rolls of film sewn into his clothes and images that would be published around the world, McCurry became the first to document the conflict in the region. His coverage won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from abroad, an award dedicated to photographers exhibiting exceptional coverage and enterprise.

McCurry is the recipient of many other awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, and the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award, which he has received twice. 

The Morris Museum is pleased to collaborate with Fairleigh Dickinson University for the exhibition, which features quotes from a recent book, Coming of Age in a Globalized World: The Next Generation, written by the university’s President J. Michael Adams and Director of Communications Angelo Carfagna. The authors were part of a 2006 exhibit of McCurry’s photographs exhibited at the United Nations entitled Afghan Children and the Next Generation. The book, which explores world citizenship through global education, also features memorable images by McCurry.

Pilgrimage: Photographs by Steve McCurry is sponsored, in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. All photographs are copyrighted by the Steve McCurry Studios.