of everyday life in Mexico’s indigenous regions but
celebrates their importance.
Iturbide’s work exudes the rich influences that
have swept into her variegated subject matter, and
the reflections of master photographers such as
Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand,
and Margaret Bourke-White are evident through-
out her images. At the same time, her portraits of
Oaxacans reflect the influence of the dramatic and
surreal style of Joel-Peter Witkin, but with the
subtlety and sensitivity to their subjects of Diane
Arbus’s work and the confrontational nature of
Robert Mapplethorpe. The influence of one of her
greatest inspirations—the Italian-born photogra-
pher Tina Modotti—is also evident. Modotti was
a socially committed photographer who lived in
Mexico for a large part of her life and concentrated
on photographing workers and political move-
ments between World War I and World War II.
Like much of Modotti’s photography, Iturbide’s
heterogeneous photographic subjects reflect her
social commitment to using photography for mak-
ing a difference in the way the world sees. She
integrates herself into the community and photo-
graphs as she sees, and in that way finds the beauty
or the horror of her subject matter and passes this
on to the viewer. She is intimate with her subject
matter and, rather than forming a critical opinion,
she lets it speak for itself.
Iturbide has an international following and has
traveled and photographed communities in Cuba,
Peru, Panama, Russia, and Madagascar in the
same provocative style found in her work from
Mexico. She has undertaken photographic jour-
neys to the southern United States and to India,
and she has been invited to speak throughout the
world, including Puerto Rico, South Korea, and
the esteemed Beaux Arts School in Paris, France.
She currently resides in Mexico City.
StephenieYoungSeealso: Arbus, Diane; Bravo, Manuel A ́lvarez;
Bourke-White, Margaret; Cartier-Bresson, Henri:
Mapplethorpe, Robert; Modotti, Tina; Photography
in Mexico; Social Representation; Stieglitz, Alfred;
Strand, Paul; Weston, Edward; Witkin, Joel-Peter
Biography
Born in Mexico City, 16 May 1942. 1969–1972, attended
Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematogra ́ficos at
the Universidad Nacional Auto ́noma de Me ́xico. 1970–
1971, worked as assistant to Manuel A ́lvarez Bravo.
1983, received production grant from the Consejo mex-
ican de Fotografı ́a; 1986, awarded prize from the UN-
International Labor Organization; 1987–1988, received
the W. Eugene Smith Award; Guggenheim Fellowship,
1988; Grand Prize, Mois de la Photo in Paris, 1988;
Hugo Erfurth Award, Germany, 1989; International
Grand Prize in Hokkaido, Japan, 1990; Rencontres
Photographiques award, 1991. Invited by Me ́decins
sans frontie`res to photograph in Madagascar, 1991. Cur-
rently living in Mexico City.Individual Exhibitions
1980 Graciela Iturbide; Casa del Lago, Mexico City; Casa de
la Cultura, Juchita ́n
1982 Graciela Iturbide; Muse ́e national d’Art moderne,
Georges Pompidou Center, Paris, France
1985 Juchita ́n;Casa de la Cultura, Juchita ́n, Mexico and
traveling
1987 Graciela Iturbide; Centro di Ricerca per l’Immagine
Fotografica, Milan, Italy
1988 Juchita ́n pueblo de nube;Side Gallery, Newcastle,
England and traveling
1989 Juchita ́n de la mujeres; Galerı ́a Juan Martin, Mexico
City, Mexico
1990 External Encounters, Internal Imaginings: Photographs
by Graciela Iturbide; San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, California
1990 Graciela Iturbide; Ernesto Mayans Gallery, Santa Fe,
New Mexico
1990 Neighbors; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego,
California
1991 Visiones: Graciela Iturbide; Le Mois de la Photo a`
Montreal, Maison de la Petite Patrie, Montreal, Canada
1991 Recontres internationales de la Photographie(retro-
spective); Chapelle du Me ́jan, Arles, France
1991 Graciela Iturbide; Museum of Photography, Seattle,
Washington
1992 Graciela Iturbide; Gale ́ria Visor, Valencia, Spain
1993 En el nombre del padre; Galerı ́a Juan Martı ́n, Mexico
City, Mexico and traveling
1993 Graciela Iturbide; Sala de Exposicio ́n de Telefo ́nica,
Madrid, Spain
1993 Graciela Iturbide; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago,
Illinois
1994 Graciela Iturbide; Universidad de Salamanca, Sala-
manca, Spain
1995 Graciela Iturbide; I Kwangju Bienniale, Kwangju,
Korea
1996 Graciela Iturbide: La forma y la memoria; Museo de
Arte Contempora ́neo de Monterrey, MARCO, Monter-
rey, Mexico
1997-8Graciela Iturbide: Images of the Spirit(retrospec-
tive); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvaniaGroup Exhibitions
1994 Mexico de las Mujeres; Galeria Arvil, Mexico D.F.
1995 Tres fotografas mexicanas; Galeria Jose Clemente
Orozco, Mexico City, Mexico
1996 El Volcan; Center of Modern Art, Canary Islands, Spain
1996–1997Photography in Latin America: A Spiritual Jour-
ney; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
1997 Skulptur im licht der fotografie; Vienna, Austria; Duis-
burg, Germany; and Fribourg, SwitzerlandITURBIDE, GRACIELA