Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, now 83, continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her poetic and deeply humanistic approach to photography. Her career-defining work "Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas, Juchitán" (1979), featuring a Zapotec woman crowned with live iguanas, has become an iconic image of Mexican visual culture and feminist photography. The International Center of Photography in New York is currently showcasing "Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play," a comprehensive exhibition featuring nearly 200 works that spans her entire career through January 2026.
"What drives my work is surprise, wonder, dreams, and imagination," Iturbide recently explained to The Guardian. This philosophy of surprise has been the driving force behind her remarkable journey from a married mother of three in Mexico City to one of Latin America's most celebrated photographers. Born in 1942, Iturbide discovered her calling in her late twenties after hearing a radio advertisement for the Center for Cinematographic Studies at Universidad Autónoma de México. On impulse, she applied and began studying under the legendary photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, setting the stage for an extraordinary career.
Iturbide's photographic style exists in the delicate space between documentary reality and dreamlike poetry. Her images capture the mysteries of everyday life while revealing the spirit of communal traditions and Indigenous cultures throughout Mexico. Beyond her celebrated Mexican work, she has created significant series in Cuba, India, Argentina, and the United States. Her dedication to her craft has earned her prestigious recognition, including the Hasselblad Award, the William Klein Award, and most recently, the Premio Princesa de Asturias earlier this year.
The photographer's commitment to black and white photography reflects her unique artistic vision. "Color feels unreal to me," Iturbide explained. "I work in black and white, I dream in black and white, I photograph in black and white because it is an abstraction of everything." Far from being monotonous, her monochrome images pulse with depth and emotion, achieved through an intimate and immersive approach to her subjects. Her acclaimed book "Juchitán de las Mujeres" (1979-86) exemplifies this dedication, as she spent nearly a decade living among and documenting Indigenous communities.
Iturbide's methodology involves deep cultural immersion and relationship building with her subjects. To document Indigenous communities authentically, she participates in daily routines and rituals, building trust over months or sometimes years. In 1978, a commission from Mexico's National Indigenous Institute brought her to the Sonoran Desert to photograph the Seri people, nomadic fishermen working to preserve their ancestral traditions. From this project emerged "Mujer Ángel, Desierto de Sonora, México" (1979), which she describes as "a gift from the desert itself," captured so intuitively that she cannot recall the exact moment she took the photograph.
Portraits of women have remained a central focus throughout Iturbide's practice, including works like "Vendedora de zácate, Oaxaca, México" (1974). "Do you know why my photos of women have traveled the world? Because I've lived with them, gone to the market, sold jitomates with them, and slept in their houses. They become my collaborators," she explains. "It's my way of creating camaraderie, a sense of complicity. I always photograph with the consent and collaboration of the people."
The creation of her most famous image, the woman with iguanas, exemplifies this collaborative approach. "I would sit with the women at the market so they could get to know me, and I would accompany them to sell their chickens and iguanas," Iturbide recalled. "All of a sudden, I saw this woman carrying live iguanas on her head and asked to photograph her. I only had one roll of film, and of the twelve frames I took, all were in motion and she was laughing, except one, which captured her dignity." The image has since taken on a life of its own, appearing as a large sculpture in a plaza in Juchitán, in small clay figurines, embroidered on traditional huipiles, and even in murals across Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Despite the spontaneous nature of her work, Iturbide emphasizes the importance of preparation and cultural respect. "I never work with scripts. I only capture what emerges by surprise, that is, what my eyes see and my heart feels, but I always read extensively about the places I'm visiting and I speak with the elders so they can share their stories and gradually help me form my understanding of their culture," she explained. This balance between intuition and intention extends into her darkroom work, where developing film becomes a meditative ritual of examining negatives and selecting images.
The exhibition at ICP also features several of Iturbide's self-portraits, which arise from instinctive moments during personal crises. "I never prepare my self-portraits; it's something that happens in the moment, usually when I'm in a bit of a crisis," she explained. One notable example, "Eyes to Fly With?, Coyoacán, Mexico" (1991), was created after a hummingbird died in her house during a period when she questioned whether to continue photographing. She quickly bought a live hummingbird at the market and placed both birds on her eyes in what she describes as "a very unconscious way."
In recent years, security concerns have made photographing in Mexico's rural towns increasingly challenging, prompting Iturbide to shift her focus toward landscapes, nature, and broader reflections on humanity across different countries. "In some ways, I think I'm now turning my attention to the origin of humankind," she said. Despite these changes in subject matter, her approach remains fundamentally unchanged, guided by heart rather than rigid methodology.
"I may be wrong, but I don't have rules," Iturbide concluded. "Working with my heart is the only rule – nothing else." This philosophy continues to drive her work at 83, ensuring that her photographs remain authentic expressions of human dignity and cultural richness. "Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play" at the International Center of Photography runs through January 12, offering visitors a rare opportunity to experience the full breadth of her remarkable vision.
