ICP to Host First New York Retrospective of Graciela Iturbide’s Work

NEW YORK — The International Center of Photography (ICP) has announced a new exhibition celebrating the career of Graciela Iturbide, marking the first time a retrospective of her work has been presented in New York. The landmark exhibition, which features nearly 200 photographs, spans five decades of the influential Mexican photographer’s career.

Organized in collaboration with Fundación MAPFRE, the show highlights Iturbide’s status as one of the most significant photographers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Carlos Gollonet, chief curator of photography at Fundación MAPFRE and the exhibition’s curator, described Iturbide’s work as a “unique world of images that, based on both documentary narrative and poetic imagination, integrates lived experience and dreams into a surprising web of historical, social and cultural references.”

Born in 1942 in Mexico City, Iturbide’s journey into photography began at the age of 27 when she enrolled in film school. It was there she was drawn to photography and began working as an assistant to the renowned Mexican modernist Manuel Álvarez Bravo from 1970 to 1971, accompanying him on photographic journeys throughout Mexico.

Iturbide’s work is a powerful blend of documentary and poetic styles, creating a sense of magical realism that is uniquely her own. Her photographs, known for their subtle compositions and dramatic lighting, often affirm the medium’s potential to transform the familiar into something fundamentally new.

Her photographic explorations have taken her across Latin America, including trips to Cuba and Panama. In 1978, a commission from the National Indigenous Institute of Mexico led to one of her earliest and most significant projects documenting the Seri Indians. For nearly a decade, from 1979 to 1988, she also meticulously documented the local customs of the Zapotec culture in Oaxaca, focusing on a community where women held central roles.

Throughout her career, Iturbide has focused on the interaction between nature and culture, exploring how the landscape takes on symbolic meaning and how history is formed from it. This is a theme that resonates across her work, from her botanical photographs to her documentation of religious ceremonies. The exhibition also includes some of Iturbide’s most recent works, a series of self-portraits that channel her fascination with time and the landscape.

According to a press release, the extensive scope of the show is informed by Fundación MAPFRE’s long history of collecting and championing Iturbide’s work, which remains the largest part of its collection since its formation in 2008. Next, the exhibition moves to the Museum of Photographic Arts at The San Diego Museum of Art in February 2026.

Exhibit: Graciela Iturbide: Serious Play, International Center of Photography, New York, 16 October 2025 through 12 January 2026.