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One of the most influential photographers active in Latin America today, Graciela Iturbide began her photographic practice in the 70s, working under legendary photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Initially, Iturbide photographed everyday life in Mexico City. But, like Alvarez Bravo, she was curious about the country's culture outside the capital, especially the Native aspects celebrated by the postrevolutionary artists and intellectuals whose circle Alvarez Bravo had been part of in his youth. He encouraged her to visit pre-Hispanic communities and bring back her own interpretation of the ancient customs surviving in modern Mexico. In 1979 she notably published Juchitán de las Mujeres, a book of photographs that inspired her lifelong support of feminist causes, which came to be her most iconic body of work. She most often depicts women, believing them to embody independence and sexuality. Iturbide has documented the cultures within Mexico including, notably, Sonora Desert and Juchitán de Zaragoza. However, in her later work, Iturbide has traveled around her work documenting different cultures, including Cuba, Panama, India, Argentina, and the United States. Iturbide notably was the first living female artist to have a retrospective at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2007, with the opening of her exhibition The Goats Dance, but has had profound success in the field of photography, having been honored with the Hasselblad award, as well as many major showings including at the Boston Museum of Fine Art in 2019, and The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in 2021.
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