Expressions lands photographic coup

It was her piercing sea-green eyes people would remember from that ohso-famous June 1985 National Geographic cover. They were eyes that belied innocence; that had seen a nation torn apart by war.

Her face was powdered by dirt rather than makeup, her torn crimson scarf was draped loosely over her unkempt auburn hair and although her face was slanted slightly to the left, her eyes stared straight into Steve McCurry’s camera. It was the first time she had ever seen a camera. It was the first time anyone had ever taken a photograph of her.

And it was an image that would come to define the refugee crisis that accompanied the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Now that hauntingly beautiful image that immortalised then 12-yearold Afghan refugee Sharbat Gula has come to Wellington. Not to Te Papa but to Upper Hutt’s Expressions gallery. The 50 Greatest Photographs of National Geographic exhibition opened on Saturday at Expressions. The exhibition runs till July 26.

Expressions director Leanne Wickham said it was exciting for the gallery to be bringing such a high calibre exhibition to Upper Hutt.

Wickham said it wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of

Photo: STEVE McCURRY/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Photo: EMORY KRISTOF/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC With 10,000 watts of lighting and a pair of submersibles, the Titanic comes to life.

Photo: CHRIS JOHNS/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC A lion patrols the dry Nossob riverbed at South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park.