Photographer Graciela Iturbide: Working with my heart is the only rule nothing else'

"If you're at all familiar with contemporary Latin American photography, you've probably encountered the unforgettable image of a Zapotec woman crowned with live iguanas, radiating quiet, unshakable dignity. Captured in 1979 by Graciela Iturbide, Nuestra Senora de las Iguanas, Juchitan was neither planned nor staged. It was taken on impulse, guided by the artist's instinct and deep respect for her subject, and has since become a touchstone of Mexican visual culture and feminist photography."

"Iturbide's images inhabit the space between document and dream. They are grounded in reality yet imbued with poetic sensibility, revealing the mysteries of everyday life. Her most celebrated works capture the spirit of communal life and Indigenous traditions in Mexico, while her series taken abroad in countries such as Cuba, India, Argentina, and the United States also hold a significant place within her vast body of work."

"Born in 1942 in Mexico City, Iturbide was in her late 20s, married and raising three children, when she heard a radio ad for the Center for Cinematographic Studies at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico. On a whim, she applied and, under the mentorship of the legendary photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo, began a journey that would establish her as one of Latin America's most revered photographers."

Graciela Iturbide was born in 1942 in Mexico City and began photographic studies in her late twenties at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico under Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Her images combine documentary grounding with poetic imagination, revealing everyday mysteries and the spirit of communal life and Indigenous traditions in Mexico. Iconic works include a 1979 portrait of a Zapotec woman crowned with live iguanas. Her career includes series made in Cuba, India, Argentina, and the United States. She has received major honors including the Hasselblad and William Klein awards and the Premio Princesa de Asturias, and a career-spanning exhibition runs at the International Center of Photography.

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