Note to Correspondents

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBIT ON AFGHAN CHILDREN OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

“Afghanistan’s Children -- The Next Generation”, an international photographic exhibition, will open with a formal ceremony and reception in the North-East Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, 1 November.

The photographs show the world the face of Afghanistan today through its children.  Photographs by Steve McCurry and images from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Afghan Women’s Photography Programme are complemented by selected quotes from Coming of Age in a Globalized World: the Next Generation, co-authored by Fairleigh Dickinson University President J. Michael Adams and Angelo Carfagna.  The new book reveals the deeply interconnected nature of today’s age and challenges the next generation to forge global connections to overcome global problems.

The exhibit showcases 40 McCurry photographs.  Universally recognized as one of today’s finest image-makers, Mr. McCurry is perhaps best known for his photograph of the green-eyed Afghan girl featured on a 1985 cover of National Geographic.  He has covered many areas of international and civil conflict.  Mr. McCurry’s work has been featured in every major magazine in the world and his coverage of Afghanistan won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad, an award dedicated to photographers exhibiting exceptional courage and enterprise.  His foundation, ImagineAsia, helps children in rural Asian communities by addressing fundamental education and health-care needs.

The images in the exhibit from the Afghan Woman’s Project are the result of a training initiative by UNFPA.  The women were trained as photographers to give them a sustainable source of income and to teach them business practices.  Many of their photographs have appeared in publications around the world.

The exhibit is sponsored by Fairleigh Dickinson University, ImagineAsia, UNFPA and the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Public Information.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen, tel: (212) 963-8531; or Liza Wichmann, tel: (212) 963-0089, or visit the website at www.un.org/events/UNART.

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For information media • not an official record