NEW YORK — The world through the lens of Graciela Iturbide is one of empowered inhabitants, mythical creatures and sacred landscapes: Iguanas adorn the head of a statuesque woman. Angelic children are conduits between life and death. Ailing plants and trees receive medical care.
But these theatrical moments spring from daily life. The renowned Mexican photographer grounded her poetic images in the experiences she found living with the communities that welcomed her. Spending time among them allowed her to witness the unexpected.
“For me, photography has always been an excuse to learn about life,” said Iturbide, 83, speaking in Spanish during a talk and luncheon in her honor last month, “whether through my camera or through the reading I do before each journey.”
These lessons generated an exquisite body of work developed over more than 50 years, much of it on view across three exhibitions in New York.
A collection of rediscovered vintage prints at Throckmorton Fine Art showcases Iturbide’s early work and master printmaking skills. A show at Ruiz-Healy Art presents her time in Southern California and across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The largest, a retrospective at the International Center of Photography, offers a comprehensive vision of her career, where across more than 150 images Iturbide’s empathetic approach and artful eye shine through. Iturbide values building trusting relationships based on respect with the people she photographs.
“She’s not looking at a culture that she wants to study,” said Elizabeth Ferrer, an independent curator and writer specializing in Latinx and Mexican photography. “Meeting people on their own terms rather than on her terms, I think that’s pretty rare and very special.”
Iturbide’s dreamlike images often incorporate symbolism and explore identity, culture, ritual and death. A man longingly looking up toward passing birds appears to be growing his own set of wings from his shoulders. A woman floats toward the Sonoran Desert carrying a boom box.
Iturbide studied film after her family did not support her desire to become a writer. It was during her studies that she met legendary Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who would become a pivotal figure in her life and career.
“Manuel Álvarez Bravo wasn’t really a teacher, but my mentor. He taught me about life, not just about photography,” Iturbide said. “He taught me to be me. To make pictures for myself. To be confident in myself.”
Álvarez Bravo encouraged her to take time with photography and to follow Mexico’s Indigenous communities. Her early images documenting the Seri Indians in the Sonoran Desert would become a cornerstone of her career.
Although much of Iturbide’s career has been photographing in Mexico, she has also explored her home country’s spirit in the United States. In East Los Angeles, she documented cholo culture, embedding with a group of deaf women with the White Fence gang beginning in the 1980s.
“I had the opportunity to get close to them and to learn about their culture,” Iturbide said. “It was a bit dangerous, but they were so kind with me and continued to invite me.”
Iturbide became friends with the women and would sometimes sleep on the floor of their small home, continuing to document them for more than 30 years. The images made Ferrer, having grown up in East L.A., see her neighborhood and the area’s gang culture differently.
“They care about their own culture, they care about their own community, and they care about self-expression,” Ferrer said. “It made me understand people that we might see as marginalized or victimized in a different light.”
Iturbide’s lyrical gaze connects the three exhibitions, each helping viewers appreciate and better understand the cultures she explores.
“That is the wonderful thing about life,” Iturbide said. “As you go observing, you go interpreting everything you have received.”
Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play, through Jan. 12 at the International Center of Photography.
Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias, through Jan. 30 at Ruiz-Healy Art.
Graciela Iturbide: Vintage, through Feb. 28 at Throckmorton Fine Art.
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