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Blog EntriesMilan, Steve McCurry Photo Exhibit
Posted on | December 29, 2009 | 2 Comments
On Sunday, Maurizio and I took advantage of the fact that it stopped snowing and raining and took the train to Milan. We met up with Maurizio’s high school friend Elia and his wife, Ester, who live in the city. Maurizio’s mother had told us about a photo exhibit of Steve McCurry’s works at the Palazzo della Ragione, a gorgeous medieval building very close to the duomo where courts of law were once housed.
This is us just outside of the exhibit entrance:
Steve McCurry’s most famous photo is that of an Afghan girl first published in National Geographic. But his other photos are equally stunning. He’s traveled extensively and his photos capture the beauty of everyday life in far off locales. Some of the subject matter is quite tough – scenes of war and suffering and extreme poverty. But there’s joy in his photos too – children playing, animals and people in repose. I was really enchanted by the colors in his photos – how quotidian objects when set against a monotonic background acquire an unusual beauty.
I also really love the way the exhibit was set up. The space was kept quite dark and the photos were set in gossamer curtains with light shining down to illuminate each individual piece so they seemed to be suspended in midair. The photos were roughly grouped into various themes – war, joy, portraits, beauty, etc.
The exhibit runs until the end of January so if you’re anywhere near Milan, I highly recommend going.
After the exhibit, we went to Rinascente, an upscale department store near the center of Milan and went to the food court on the top floor…though food court is a bit of a misnomer. It’s actually a large space with several restaurants and a gourmet food market. We went to Obika, a mozzarella bar specializing in the fresh cheese. I forgot to take a picture of our appetizer, a sampler of four kinds of mozzarella, including an intriguing smoked one. But it was good.
The city was a lot more crowded than I expected given that it was just 2 days after Christmas. As expected, a lot of stores were closed, but some were open, including this yarn shop on Via Dante – Mani Di Fata:
I know, doesn’t look much like a yarn shop. Italian yarn shops sell yarn, underwear, baby items, and embroidery supplies – a sort of mish mash of crafts and intimate apparel. I believe shops dedicated just to knitting and crocheting are rare.
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December 30th, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
Wow, looks like an amazing trip!!
January 5th, 2010 @ 9:20 pm
That exhibit sounds amazing Connie, thanks for writing about it. And it tickles me that italian yarn shops also sell lingerie! I’m glad you were abe to get out a bit and hope the rest of your trip was enjoyable too.