Afghan girl

Date

1984

Description

Creator of the image: Steve McCurry
Date of the image creation: 1984
Medium of the image: Photograph
Person depicted: Young Afghan student, Sharbat Gula

This famous image was taken by photographer Steve McCurry while on assignment for 'National Geographic' in Pakistan in 1984. He was covering the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The young Pashtun youth was attending an all-girl school in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp. Eighteen years later the subject of the photo was identified as Sharbat Gula. She had not previously seen the image of her that had been circulating the globe.

In 2002 she again became the subject of a 'National Geographic' cover story (then with a circulation of 10 million readers), and was featured in a television documentary, 'Search for the Afghan Girl' (2002). David Schonauer, editor in chief of 'American Photo' magazine was reported in 'US Today' as saying that 'the brilliance' of 'The Afghan Girl' lay in its glamour depiction of a refugee — 'what seems a contradiction'. Added to this, he pointed to the girl's enigmatic expression: 'It's a little bit like the Mona Lisa ... You don't really know what she's thinking. Is she scared? Is she fierce? Is she bewildered? Is she ambivalent? Is she confident about her beauty? You can look at it and get a different feeling about it every time. A picture has got to have something like that if it's going to last.'

The image and the girl's blue-green eyes have caused much controversy, including concern that the original image from the 1984 front-cover of 'National Geographic' was later digitally enhanced to remove the 'dirt, muck, and glare from her right eye'.

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