Graciela Iturbide - When the light speaks (cuando habla la luz)

We return (and will continue to return) to the Casa de México de España (Madrid), this time to visit one of those exhibitions that are advertised as unmissable. The protagonist of the exhibition is a highly awarded creator, which, for me personally, not only arouses my interest but also puts me on guard. I think it's no secret that major awards (and I would dare to say minor ones too) are more the result of good public relations and good contacts than of the quality of the award-winning work, which is why I tend to be very demanding of the most renowned or award-winning authors. So I showed up at Graciela Iturbide's exhibition with my backpack overflowing with skepticism. My mistrust disintegrated in a matter of seconds, turning into fine dust until it disappeared. Graciela Iturbide, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (2025), is a photographer who has been captivating audiences for more than 40 years. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this exhibition left me spellbound from start to finish.

In the last two years, since I rediscovered my love of exhibitions, two events have had a profound impact on me. One of these exhibitions was [Boris Savelev](https://peakd.com/hive-126773/@enraizar/boris-vaselev-viewfinderuna-forma-de-mirar-eyp), and the second was/is the one I am presenting today, featuring the enchanting photographer Graciela Iturbide.

If I already mentioned at the time that Boris Savelev's photographs spoke to me of his inner world and melancholy, in the case of Iturbide, her gaze is projected outward, with serenity, inviting complicity with the subjects portrayed. In fragments of life where some would seek sensationalism, sordidness, or the most shocking photo, the Mexican photographer, with respect and free of prejudice, walks toward dignity.

The photographs on display show that photography, in addition to being a technical procedure with the ability to accurately recreate reality, as seen in its use in the world of science, is also a medium capable of creating worlds. Iturbide has been recreating landscapes full of magic for more than four decades; of this there is no doubt.

¿Ojos para volar? [Eyes to fly?] (1989) This question is answered as visitors and viewers walk through the exhibition. Without a doubt, Iturbide's gaze flies high, seeing what only she is capable of seeing and then showing.

This exhibition features some truly striking photographs. Among my favorites are: Mujer ángel. desierto de Sonora, México. 1979 Cristina. Este de los Ángeles, Estados Unidos .1986 Magnolia. Juchitán, México. 1986

And among them all, there is one that is very special: Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas (1979). The image used in Madrid to promote the exhibition is also the image that earned the most extensive explanatory commentary of all the creations exhibited at the Casa de México. This photograph is an example of how the author shows archetypes and symbols as points of support for the community. According to the exhibition notes, this image represents the goddess of creation. She is the founding totem of a society (clan) and at the same time “Medusa Juchiteca”: a warrior goddess who breaks away from male authority. We are faced with the founding myth of an entire community.

I felt very close to the author's clear, non-judgmental gaze on these realities in which rituals are explicit, blood is blood and not an analogy. A journey into a world in which identity, being among others, sacrifice, and death are fully present. An approach to reality that I also encountered years ago in anthropology: >*Man finds meaning in the events in which he lives through cultural patterns, ordered clusters of meaningful symbols. The study of culture... is therefore the study of the mechanism that individuals and groups of individuals use to orient themselves in a world that would otherwise be obscure.* Clifford Geertz. The Interpretation of Cultures. 1973

To conclude, I will say that if the photographer constructs reality, the reality presented in this publication is my construction of an exhibition in which magical landscapes accompany universal desires. It is also possible that this text is not a construction, but an invention born of necessity. To put words where there are none, or to give explanations to the inexplicable. To a mystery that pierced my soul during two afternoons in June in Madrid.