Children, monks, pilgrims and travelling companions who give back to us age-old rites, the vibrant colours of feasts and religious ceremonies, the pungent spices that fill the air and the overwhelming sense of history in places that have stayed unchanged for centuries, but also the daily hardships people face on a continent still afflicted by poverty, wars, natural disasters and exploitation. Reproduced on large-format pages, McCurry’s full-page portraits, almost life-size, surprise with their impact and immediacy and let the viewer come into contact, for a fraction of a second, with the lives and experiences of the people portrayed, cancelling in an instant every distance of space and time. "These pictures tell of the wish to come into contact with the other, to create a connection, so that even those who will never meet the people portrayed and never know their names can share that instant of life with them. Some of these faces were caught in places or situations I would rather not remember, but they are all faces I will never forget" (Steve McCurry).