Afghan Girl, one of the most iconic photographs ever, was taken in 1984 by Steve McCurry. McCurry was visiting refugee camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and he chose a student in the camp of Nasir Bagh.i In his words, “I saw this . . . girl who had this really kind of haunted look in her eye. So I got permission to photograph her.”ii The girl had moved from Afghanistan because of the Soviet invasion of December 1979. To McCurry, “her look . . . summed up the horror, because her village had been bombed . . . and she'd had to make this two-week trek . . . to the refugee camp.”iii The Afghan Girl photograph has since been used in a number of fundraisers, documentaries and campaigns. It has raised awareness for women and child refugees …show more content…
Upon further speculation, however, it seems that she is looking beyond the camera at something. This slight distortion in camera angle may create an unsettling feeling within the onlooker. The viewer might feel as if she had just sighted something. Words don't have to explain or downplay her reaction. Other varying impressions can stem from the image. The girl's facial expressions are affected by the setting – or lack thereof. There is no contextual background with which to associate her visage. Because the photograph was taken in a tent, it has very little context, without the slant of accompanied text.vi As a result, one may assume that by viewing images of “similar” situations, they already have an understanding of the situation, without having been there. This creates a sense of deja vu in campaigns, and probably would not compel one to take part in promoting action. On the other hand, the lack of background presents two advantages: to focus more on Gula's features, and to leave the location and situation varied. For instance, if the surrounding scene was of a particular refugee camp, more attention would be focused around that camp, and less so on refugees in Afghanistan in general. In that regard, the photograph has proven