Loss, Ritual and Faith

The Fotografie Forum Frankfurt dedicates a major retrospective to the work of Graciela Iturbide. The exhibition continues until 30 June 2019.

In the aftermath of losing her young daughter in the early seventies, Graciela Iturbide (b. 1942 in Mexico City) began to photograph Mexican folk rituals surrounding the passing of children. One day, however, she was overcome by the realisation that she must redirect her focus in order to find a new way of living. And so she concentrated her artistic attentions on investigating the rich heritage of her native Mexico, such as the matriarchal society of the Zapotec people, or the Seri Indians of the Sonoran Desert. Her work also took her to numerous other countries across the globe, including the USA, Italy, India, Madagascar and Korea. “The camera for me is a pretext for exploring life and culture around the world,” the photographer once explained in an interview with The Guardian. “What usually guides me is what surprises me as I look at things. If I am not surprised, I cannot take photographs, because it is missing that emotional dimension.”
Fotografie Forum Frankfurt is the first venue in Germany to dedicate a major retrospective to Iturbide’s career, which now spans half a century. Her mysterious black-and-white images are both documents and poetic visions, conveying the pain and beauty of human existence in a context of nature and religion. Iturbide’s oeuvre is also considered an essential key to gaining a deeper understanding of Latin America.

For further information visit Fotografie Forum Frankfurt