Born: 16 May 1942, Mexico
Died: NA
Country most active: Mexico
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Born in Mexico City, Iturbide (b.1942) was mentored by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902-2002) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She photographs Mexican society and culture. Between 1979 and 1988, she photographed a matriarchal society in Juchitán de Zaragoza, an indigenous town in southeast Oaxaca. She also photographed Mexican Americans in Los Angeles.
The following is republished from the National Gallery of Art (US). This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Mexican artist Graciela Iturbide took this photograph in the Sonoran Desert near the border with Arizona. In the 1970s, Iturbide worked for the National Indigenous Institute documenting Indigenous cultures in Mexico. This image is from a series about the Seri people, a small community in Sonora.
To Iturbide this photograph represents the ways in which capitalism changed the Seri way of life. The Seri took what they needed from Western technologies—such as the tape recorder held by the woman in the image. At the same time, they preserved their ancestral traditions and values. Iturbide called the figure in the photograph “mujer angel” (angel woman) because she looks like she could fly off into the desert.
Iturbide, who initially studied filmmaking, discovered photography while working for Manuel Álvarez Bravo from 1970 to 1971. She developed a characteristic style that she described as “photo essays.” She was also influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom she met in Europe.