Besharat Art
In early 2019, the Besharat Arts Foundation generously installed prints of breathtaking images by renowned photographer, Steve McCurry. Mr. McCurry is best known for his evocative color photographs that document both human struggles and joy. One of his most well-known works is his iconic photographic portrait of the “Afghan Girl” with the green eyes that graced the cover of National Geographic magazine in June of 1985.
Pieces from the collection, titled “Faces of Innocence,” grace Saint Thomas More’s (STM’s) hallways, classrooms and cafeteria and tell visual stories about children from all over the world. The ongoing presence of this artwork in our school allows us a unique opportunity to engage students in understanding diversity and in building love, compassion and compromise in the world.
Each year, the Besharat Arts Foundation will refresh a portion of the installed artwork with new pieces from McCurry and/or other artists. The Foundation’s ongoing generosity creates a permanent invitation for STM students to “find God in all things,” which is the signature spirituality of the Jesuits.
In fall 2018, STM parents, Katherine (STM alum ’86), and David Decker, connected Massoud Besharat, the owner of Besharat Gallery and Museum and creator of the Besharat Foundation, with our school. We saw immediately that what Mr. Besharat was offering through art was a natural fit with both our school mission – to be a joyful learning community reaching out to the world as the hands of Christ – and the Jesuit tradition of “seeing God in all things.” In addition, the photographic images by Steve McCurry are a perfect tool for sharing the importance of social justice, a key tenant of Jesuit teaching.
At STM, we offer a unique learning environment that helps nurture the whole child, looking always to engage not just the mind, but also the heart and soul of our students. The artwork from the Besharat Foundation is a compliment to this environment. As one of our students said about the artwork, “Maybe it’s telling us we have to be on the lookout for our neighbors. It might even be the person next to me in the classroom.”
We are grateful to Steve McCurry, the Besharat Arts Foundation and Massoud Besharat for their generosity and for artwork that enriches our school and inspires us to spread God’s love and to make this world a better place.
Teachers integrate the artwork into classroom teaching and incorporate it into classwork, such as this assignment where students penned figurative similes with the prompt “Steve McCurry’s photos are like….”
“Sometimes, that human connection can happen pretty quickly. You meet somebody, there’s chemistry…a connection.” – Steve McCurry
In April 2019, world-renowned photographer, Steve McCurry, visited STM Catholic School! When we heard Mr. McCurry, the gifted photographer whose artwork graces STM’s hallways, classrooms and cafeteria, would be in Atlanta for 24 hours, we hoped he might come visit our school. We dreamed about how wonderful it would be for him to see and hear how his story-telling artwork is inspiring us every day. Well, dreams really do come true!
Mr. McCurry and Massoud Besharat (founder of the Besharat Arts Foundation) visited classrooms, heard from our students firsthand how the photos are engaging them, and experienced the photographs through our students’ eyes. It was a pleasure for the students to hear Mr. McCurry’s stories and have the opportunity to ask him questions, and we hope he will come back and visit us soon!
