In December 1984, Steve McCurry walked into an informal school at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. Fifteen girls sat in a tent classroom. McCurry noticed one immediately. Her green eyes were startling, her expression intense. The photograph took maybe five minutes. He didn’t get her name because he had no interpreter that day. He returned to Washington, developed the film, and realized he had captured something extraordinary.
National Geographic published the photograph on its June 1985 cover. The girl stared directly into the camera with an expression that stopped people cold. Her red headscarf framed her face. Her skin showed the dust and hardship of refugee life. Her eyes held something that transcended the specific circumstances of one girl in one camp. They conveyed fear, defiance, loss, and strength simultaneously.
