Graciela Iturbide, Heliotropo 37

Description

From February to May 2022, the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain will present a major exhibition of Graciela Iturbide, one of Latin America's most emblematic photographers. Working mainly in black-and-white in her native country, Mexico, Graciela Iturbide is interested in the cohabitation between ancestral traditions and Catholic rites, as well as in man's relationship with death. She also dedicates an important part of her work to women and their roles within their social environment. In recent years, her photographs have turned empty of all human presence, revealing the strong bond that unites her with things, nature, and animals. Through more than 200 photographs, the exhibition presents Graciela Iturbide's most iconic works and an important selection of unreleased photographs, as well as a series of color photographs specially commissioned by the Fondation Cartier, revealing a sensitive, poetic, and humanistic work. The book accompanying this "portrait" exhibition offers an exploration of Graciela Iturbide's work and personal universe. It brings together all the works presented at the Fondation Cartier, as well as an interview with the photographer by French essayist Fabienne Bradu, an original short story by Guatemalan writer Eduardo Halfon, and a photo-reportage of Iturbide's home and studio by Mexican photographer Pablo Lopez Luz.

Graciela Iturbide: Born in 1942 in Mexico City, Graciela Iturbide studied cinema and then took up photography with Manuel Alvarez Bravo in the early 1970s. Following him on his travels through Latin America and inspired by the work of Josef Koudelka and Henri Cartier-Bresson, she forged her own vision and gradually created a unique artistic work. Her photographs have been exhibited extensively in Mexico and in international museums, in Paris, San Francisco, Philadelphia, or London. She is the laureate of the W. Eugene Smith Prize in 1987, the Higashikawa Prize in 1990, and the Hasselblad Prize in 2008. Essayist, novelist and translator, Fabienne Bradu holds a PhD from the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne. She lives in Mexico City since 1976, where she was a Researcher at the Institute of Philological Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1996. Eduardo Halfon was born in Guatemala in 1971 and spent part of his childhood in the USA. There, he studied Literature which he later taught upon his return in his native country. His shorts stories and novels have been translated in eight languages; he was awarded the prestigious Jose Maria de Pereda price in Spain in 2010 for his book La Pirueta, and the Prix Roger-Caillois in France in 2015 for his novel Mourning. The Polish Boxer was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection and finalist for the International Latino Book Award.