Black White Photography - UK (2019-05)

9

B+W

09

B+W

FEATURE

Graciela Iturbide has captured

some of the most profound images

of Mexico in modern times. Here

she shares her photographic

journey to understanding the rich

cultural diversity of her homeland.

Interview and translation by

Donatella Montrone.

UNDERSTANDING

MEXICO

All images

© Graciela Iturbide

›

W

hen a baby dies in

Mexico, often the

child is swaddled in

a burial gown and

lowered into a

handmade casket,

lovingly adorned with colourful tissue

paper. The little box is filled with keepsakes,

religious trinkets and sometimes even small

parcels of food. The family will keep the

baby close for several days before burying

their angelito – their little angel.

It was 1977 when Graciela Iturbide, one

of the most influential Latin American

photographers of the 20th century, stopped

photographing dead babies. She was in

Dolores Hidalgo, a small colonial town

in Guanajuato, and saw a young family

carrying their angelito in a small box.

She asked the family’s permission to take

photographs and followed them to the

child’s resting place. While walking along

a dirt road, the man carrying the casket

stopped in his tracks. On the side of the

road was a half-dressed corpse; fully formed

from the waist down, a bloodied skeleton

from the waist up. Graciela snapped some

quick photos and carried on with the family.

Mujer Ángel, Desierto de Sonora,

México, 1979.