Graciela Iturbide Mexican, b. 1942
Cholos Harpys, East Los Ángeles, 1989
Silver Gelatin Print
16 x 20 in
40.6 x 50.8 cm
40.6 x 50.8 cm
Further images
Utilizing the heavy sunlight, Iturbide captures the stark shadows of four members of the White Fence group. They use Cholo signaling to cast a shadow puppet-like scene on a concrete...
Utilizing the heavy sunlight, Iturbide captures the stark shadows of four members of the White Fence group. They use Cholo signaling to cast a shadow puppet-like scene on a concrete wall. Because some of the White Fence members were hearing impaired, this invites reflection on their “hand signs” as expressions of communication, not just symbols of gang identity. According to the essay "White Fence Revisited" by Alfonso Morales Carillo, the wall had previously been covered in graffiti. While it technically remains bare in the photograph, the gang members reclaim the graffiti by adding their own temporary version through their shadows.
Provenance
Graciela Iturbide's StudioExhibitions
Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play, The International Center of Photography, New York, NY; curator: Carlos Gollonet, 2025 (catalogue)Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias, Ruiz Healy Art, New York, NY, 2025 (catalogue)
Picturing the Border, Cleveland Museum of Art; curator: Nadiah Rivera Fellah, 2024 (catalogue)
Graciela Iturbide, Heliotropo 37, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France; curators: Alexis Fabry and Marie Perennès, 2022 (catalogue)
The Goat's Dance: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide, J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles; curator: Judith Keller, 2007-08 (cataglogue)
Literature
Romo, Ricardo. “Graciela Iturbide: Borderland Images from East Los Angeles and Tijuana.” Latinos in America, December 6, 2025 (illustrated)Romo, Ricardo. “Ricardo Romo’s Tejano Report 12.05.2025 Graciela Itrubide Borderland Images.” latinopia, December 5, 2025 (illustrated)
Müller, Anna. "The Serious Play of Graciela Iturbide," Aesthetica Magazine, October 23, 2025 (illustrated)
“Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias,” Meer, November 8, 2025 (illustrated)
Publications
Exhibition catalogue, Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play. Madrid: Fundación MAPFRE and Editorial RM, 2025, p. 200 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias. New York: Ruiz-Healy Art, editor: Patricia Ruiz-Healy, 2025 (illustrated)Iturbide, Graciela, and Alfonso Morales Carrillo. White Fence.
Barcelona: Editorial RM, 2024, pp. 111-112 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Rivera Fellah, Nadiah. Picturing the Border. Cleveland:
Cleveland Museum of Art, 2024, p. 99 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Graciela Iturbide, Heliotropo 37. Paris: Fondation
Cartier, 2022, p. 266 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Coronel Rivera, Juan Rafael, et al. Graciela Iturbide:
Cuando Habla La Luz. Mexico City: Editorial RM, 2017, p. 6-7 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Iturbide, Graciela. Graciela Iturbide. Madrid:
Fundación MAPFRE, 2009, p. 188 (illustrated)
