Washington, D.C. - Images of the Spirit: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) from June 1 to September 24, 2000, features more than 80 gelatin silver prints of Iturbide's ethnographic photography. Reflecting the diversity of Mexican and other Latin American cultures, Iturbide's evocative images portray the surreal and spiritual aspects of daily life. Iturbide's works reveal her compassion for and dedication to her country and its people.

She says: "I retain in images casual external encounters and internal finalities. I seek to trap life in the reality that surrounds me, remembering that my dreams, my symbols, and my imagination are part of that life. In human beings I search to discover my own nostalgia."

Iturbide dedicated years to studying the Zapotec Indian people in the town of Juchitán, Mexico, going about their daily ceremonial activities. Juchitán de las Mujeres (The Women of Juchitán) became her most notable body of work: in Nuestra Senora de las Iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas) a woman wears a majestic writhing crown of live iguanas; in the eponymous Na´ Lupe Pan, an older woman stands in front of a wall with an abstract graffiti crucifix. Iturbide also turns her lens toward a wide range of other subjects, from the Mujer ángel (Angel woman) of the Sonora Desert to girl gangs of Los Angeles. She explores the world of children in Angelito mexicano (Mexican cherub), in which a child is adorned with angel wings, and in Primera comunión (First communion), in which a young girl dressed in white Communion clothing wears a skull mask.

Iturbide was born in Mexico City in 1942. After studying filmmaking at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos in the late 1960s, she discovered photography while working as a studio assistant to renowned Mexican photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Devoting herself to the medium, Iturbide traveled to Europe where she met Henri Cartier-Bresson, who became a significant influence on her work.

In 1978, Iturbide became a founding member of the Mexican Council of Photography. Since then, she has received numerous honors and awards, including the W. Eugene Smith award in 1987 for her Juchitán project and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1988. Her exhibition Juchitán also received first prize at France's Mois de la Photo. Iturbide resides in Coyoacán, Mexico.

Images of the Spirit: Photographs by Graciela Iturbid has been organized by the Alfred Stieglitz Center of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This exhibition and the accompanying publication are supported by the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture and its three sponsors, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Fundación Cultural Bancomer, and The Rockefeller Foundation, whose contributions make this program possible. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The accompanying publication, published by Aperture, is also supported by FEMSA, Grupo Financerio Bancomer, Seguros Monterrey Aetna, and the Photographers for Photographers Fund.

The exhibition at NMWA is supported by the museum's members. Images of the Spirit, the 120-page catalogue, will be available in the NMWA museum shop for $40.00. After Washington, the exhibition will travel to: The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., November 19, 2000 - January 7, 2001; the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, N.M., February 9, 2001 - April 22, 2001; and the Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, May 11, 2001- July 15, 2001.

About the Museum

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its permanent collecting contains approximately 2600 works by almost 700 artists, including Judith Leyster, Maria Sibylla Merian, Mary Cassatt, Camille Claudel, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Catlett, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Louise Bourgeois. The museum also conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine, and has 22 state committees. Since 1984 nearly 200,000 people have joined as members in support of the museum and its mission. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., in an historic building near the White House. It is open Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon - 5 p.m. A donation of $3 for adults and $2 for students and seniors is suggested. For information call 202.783.5000 or visit the museum's website, www.nmwa.org.

For images, interviews, and more information, media@nmwa.org or call 202.783.7373