FOOD by Steve McCurry

through 4 September 2022

An everyday gesture for some, a desperate need for others. Food, and the value and meaning of eating, as an element to reflect, is the theme of the photo exhibit hosted at the Forte dell’Annunziata of Ventimiglia. Until 4 September, the evocative location on a cliff overlooking the sea will host a top-class exhibition (previously set up, for the first time, in Forlì) by US photographer Steve McCurry: much more than a war reporter, and the winner of the prestigious World Press Photo Award (1985 and 1992), the 2002 WPP Photographer of the Year award, and the 1980 Robert Capa Gold Medal (awarded to photographers standing out for their courage and feats) for his war photos of Afghanistan for Time Magazine, and the first-ever Leica Hall of Fame Award. Food aims to explore the relationship between society and the activities required by human beings to eat.

The author wishes for the visitors to abandon a hedonistic or material concept of food and rediscover that which it has always been: one of the many faces of worldwide cultures. The photographer has focused on such aspects by portraying families, history, wars, and work by narrating the behind-the-scenes and the path towards nutrition, from production to consumption. 

A total of 79 shots by the US king of photography will be on show. The artist rose to fame in the 1980s for the famous war portrait Afghan Girl. His pictures encompass all of Curry’s daily work, which he described as follows: “[italics?] You need to know how to wait. If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view”.

The show curated by Biba Giacchetti with the scenic design of Peter Bottazzi belongs to a larger event, “Oltre il cibo (Beyond Food)”, involving Ventimiglia and curated by the Marina Development Corporation.

Davide Izetta