Steve McCurry's Children Exhibition at the Innocenti Museum

The Innocenti Museum in Florence hosts Children, Steve McCurry’s new temporary exhibition. This is the first exhibition entirely dedicated to childhood by one of the greatest masters of contemporary photography. From 19 May to 8 October, 100 photographs - some of which have never been shown in Europe - taken by Steve McCurry in almost fifty years of work, portraying children in every corner of the world in scenes of everyday life, will be on display in the rooms of the Museum in Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence.

A series of portraits telling the story of childhood in all its facets right inside the place that symbolises childhood, the Istituto degli Innocenti, an institution that has been involved in promoting and protecting the rights of children for more than 600 years. The Institute is still a place where children are welcomed and educated and where their rights are affirmed in a concrete manner. It is also a place of study, research and cultural promotion for the wellbeing of the new generations.

The Steve McCurry’s Children Exhibition from 19 May in Florence

The exhibition starts with an extraordinary series of portraits and shows images of war and poetry, suffering and joy, astonishment and irony. Visitors will follow Steve McCurry on his travels through India, Burma, Japan, Africa all the way to Brazil, coming into contact with children who are different in terms of ethnicity, dress and traditions, but share inexhaustible energy, joy and the ability to play even in the most difficult circumstances. We meet refugee or working children, children oblivious to danger who play climbing on a cannon or frolicking in the mud, chasing a ball during a monsoon downpour, or playing a guitar made from discarded materials.

The exhibition is curated by Biba Giacchetti with Melissa Camilli of the SudEst57 team, under the patronage of the Municipality of Florence, in collaboration with the Istituto degli Innocenti, and is produced and organised by Civita Mostre e Musei with In Your Event by Cristoforo SCS.

Steve McCurry's Children at the Istituto degli Innocenti

Steve McCurry is one of the most iconic figures in contemporary photography. Just think of the famous Afghan girl portrayed in a refugee camp in 1984 who became emblematic of the conditions endured in war zones even before the United Nations drew up the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1989. Against this backdrop of global relevance, McCurry's intention is also to raise awareness on exploitation of the young. The exhibition is therefore a journey into childhood offering food for thought on the responsibility we have towards the new generations. This is why the Istituto degli Innocenti is the ideal place to host the exhibition. The exhibition is accompanied by the Institute’s topical insights illustrating the contexts and areas of experience in relation to the rights that must be guaranteed to children and young people.

"For the Istituto degli Innocenti," commented the Chairwoman of the Institute, Maria Grazia Giuffrida, at the presentation of the exhibition, "it is an honour to host the first thematic exhibition dedicated to childhood by one of the best-known and best-loved photographers of all time. The Innocenti Museum has been holding exhibitions and cultural activities for some time, but Steve McCurry's Children is a particularly poignant exhibition because of its subject matter which is fully aligned with the raison d'être of the Istituto degli Innocenti, founded in 1419 to welcome, care for and protect the least fortunate children”.

The photographs will be accompanied by contributions from researchers working at the Istituto degli Innocenti offering insights into the assertion of the rights - often still denied - of children in different contexts: education and school, play, family and peer relations, child labour, and armed conflicts. Visitors will enjoy not only a splendid gallery of images but will also have opportunities to reflect on the responsibilities we all have towards the new generations, knowing that the dream of a fairer future for our children depends on the actions we take now, respecting their leadership, their personality and their identity.