Working in her native country, Graciela Iturbide creates photographs which have become synonymous with Mexican culture in all its diversity. Born in Mexico City, Iturbide came to photography after marrying at the age of twenty and having three children, fulfilling the pressures of an upper-middle class family. In 1970, after the sudden death of her six-year old daughter, Iturbide reassessed her life's purpose, which eventually led her to an apprenticeship with Manuel Alvarez Bravo . This bond with Mexico's greatest photographer led her to see her homeland as she never had before, photographing indigenous people in small villages across the land. Through Iturbide's images, we come to understand that the power of the Catholic church could not erase the greater power of pre-Hispanic cultures, which created a country flourishing with modern technologies [radio, television, advertisements] yet cognizant and proud of its traditional and religious customs. Her photographs tell a...
