Graciela Iturbide Mexican, b. 1942
Cholos en la recamara, East Los Ángeles, 1986
Silver Gelatin Print
16 x 20 in
40.6 x 50.8 cm
40.6 x 50.8 cm
The contact sheets from Graciela Iturbide’s photographs in East Los Angeles reveal the sequence of her movements and interactions with the community. In May 1986, she captured her first portraits...
The contact sheets from Graciela Iturbide’s photographs in East Los Angeles reveal the sequence of her movements and interactions with the community. In May 1986, she captured her first portraits inside an apartment on Pomeroy Avenue, where residents welcomed her into their most intimate spaces—the main bedroom and kitchen. One published image depicts three adults and a baby gathered on a queen-size bed surrounded by everyday objects: a dressing table and a crib. In this scene, Iturbide portrays a personal, familiar moment, showing her subjects relaxed and unposed within their private world. Her approach is rooted in mutual trust and consent; as she explained in Frieze magazine, she never photographs in secret—if someone does not wish to be photographed, she simply refrains. This ethic of respect shapes her intimate visual language and deepens the authenticity of her portraits.
Provenance
Graciela Iturbide's StudioExhibitions
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
Jansen, Charlotte, and Graciela Iturbide. “Graciela Iturbide on the Democratic Nature of Photography.” Frieze Magazine, May 5, 2022 (illustrated)Publications
Exhibition catalogue, Romo, Ricardo, PhD., Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias. New York: Ruiz Healy Art, 2025 (illustrated)Iturbide, Graciela, and Alfonso Morales Carrillo. White Fence. Barcelona | Mexico City: RM, 2024, p. 19 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Rivera Fellah, Nadiah. Picturing the Border, Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2024, p. 103 (illustrated)
Exhibition catalogue, Graciela Iturbide, Heliotropo 37, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France, 2022, p. 268 (illustrated)
