16
B+W
›an image can take on a life of its own,
‘without the photographer having to do
anything,’ she says. ‘Sometimes photos fly.
I don’t know why – they just fly.’G
raciela remains forever faithful
to her patria, her homeland,
documenting the Mexico she
loves with the dignity often not
found in the folkloric depictions she abhors.
She is a master at capturing the essence of
her subjects. The Washington Post recently
wrote that the people in ‘Graciela Iturbide’s
Mexico persevere in a land of intense
sunlight, dark shadows and whirring birds,’
perhaps alluding to what many art critics
over the years have referred to as the surreal
quality of her oeuvre, though she rejects
any suggestion of surrealist influence. Her
work spanning nearly 50 years offers a
visual story of home, expressed through an
intimate understanding of her subjects. It is
a paean, an expression of love for her nation
and its people, perhaps tinged with the
inescapable loss of Claudia.To find out more about Graciela Iturbide,
visit her website at gracielaiturbide.org.
Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico is shown at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, until 12 May.
Visit mfa.org.Above Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico, 1969. | Below Sahuaro, Desierto de Sonora, 1979.