The girl who can stop an army, even for a millisecond, with her stare. “The Refugee” as she has known to be called around the world, has captivated viewers all over the world with her stare. In the photo taken by Steve McCurry, the refugee fiercely stares down the camera in a way that draws your attention powerfully and holds it. National Geographic released the photograph and it has become one the most influential photographs they have released since June of 1985. The way her eyes are perceived to make us feel very powerful emotions to do more than draw us in, but cause us to question her life and her state of being.  Her eyes elicit from us an emotion that can be seen through the focal point, color hue, and proximity of her stare that lures us back to this photograph again and again. The importance of the visual texts is that they affect the targeted audience by inducing emotions of empathy and curiosity to be felt for the refugee.

In the photograph the refugee’s eyes are the focal point. This is because it is the most dominant area that is located in the center of the photograph. The focal point plays a critical role in making this photograph famous. The single most powerful source in this photograph is the refugee’s inescapable eyes. The focal point causes the audience to be drawn back to the refugee’s eyes, consistently without fail. As you look at the rest of the photograph you notice other details surrounding her that contribute to the refocus of her stare. For example, as you scope out the rest of the photograph you notice the background and the clothing she has under her hijab are the same color as her eyes, drawing you back into the focal point.

The color of her emerald-green eyes are used as a visual text to distinguish the color hue. The prominent visual hue of emerald-green draws you to the color and find a good balance in contrast against the rest of the photograph. The repetition of the emerald-green hue throughout the photograph adds to the significance relating back to her eyes. The eyes are the most impactful visual source, but the significance of the hues helps trace your attention back toward her eyes. This adds to the effectiveness of looking at the eyes more frequently to elicit the emotion of empathy and curiosity from the audience. The color hue at first glance may seem unimportant, but when analyzed closely one can see that it plays a clear indirect role to redirecting the focus on the refugee’s eyes. The emerald-green hue is also a symbol that continues to reoccur throughout the range of the photograph. It symbolizes the intensity of her stare with the the burst of beautiful color in her eyes, while the surrounding emerald-green is used to bring you back to her eyes. 

Lastly, the proximity of the camera to the refugee’s face is very close. This closeness plays an emotions role for the audience. As we are closer to the subject of interest we tend become more attached emotionally to that subject, and that’s exactly what is happening here. As we take in her matted hair, dirt on her face, ripped hijab, and most importantly her earnest and intense eyes we feel a certain connection with her. We may begin to wonder who she is, where she is in the world, if she is well, or what a little girl had to go through to adapt such a serious look. The proximity in this photograph acts as our emotion bridge from the audience to the refugee, and what she might have been going through in those moments before the picture was taken. More importantly, the proximity shows the eyes and makes them more noticeable. As the eyes become more frequently seen because of the proximity the more quickly the empathy and curiosity will fill the audiences mind.

The photograph of “The Refugee” has become so famous because the photograph is truly a masterpiece. Taken just right it uses several visual text elements that enhance the effectiveness of her eyes and how they are perceived. The focal point brings the attention back the center where her eyes are located. The emerald-green color hue in the photograph subtly bring your attention back to her eyes through the attractiveness of the color and the repetition of the same hue. The proximity allows us to have a bigger visual scope of her eyes causing us to form a more emotional attachment to her as a person. The refugees stare is so powerful because not only does it make the audience elicit empathy and curiosity from the audience, but it has numerous visual text to enhance the emotions already seen.
