Graciela Iturbide Wins 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

Renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide has been awarded the 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, one of Spain’s most prestigious cultural honour’s. The accolade not only consolidates her position as a giant of contemporary Latin American photography but also acknowledges photography itself as a vital and expressive artistic medium.

With a career spanning over five decades, Iturbide’s black-and-white photographs have profoundly impacted global visual culture, offering intimate and symbolic insights into the spiritual and material lives of indigenous and marginalised communities. Her lens doesn’t just document—it reveals, elevates, and preserves, making her a visual historian of ancestral cultures in flux.

A Life Through the Lens

Born in Mexico City in 1942, Graciela Iturbide began her artistic journey under the mentorship of legendary Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who deeply influenced her aesthetic and philosophical approach to photography. From early on, Iturbide viewed the camera as more than a recording tool—it was a means of cultural exploration and personal reflection.

Her artistic career blossomed during a period of rapid modernisation in Latin America, and her work has since served as a visual counterpoint to the dominant narratives of industrial progress. She sought out communities on the margins, capturing their rituals, landscapes, and traditions with unflinching honesty and profound empathy.

Iturbide’s photography is deeply rooted in symbolism, often merging the documentary with the poetic. Her images speak of dualities—life and death, tradition and modernity, the sacred and the mundane—all while centring indigenous and feminine perspectives.

Iconic Works That Transcend Borders

Among her most celebrated works is the 1979 series documenting the Seri Indians of the Sonoran Desert. This powerful visual essay combines environmental harshness with human resilience, capturing a community at the edge of extinction with respect, care, and striking composition.

Another landmark series is her photographic exploration of Frida Kahlo’s bathroom in the artist’s Coyoacán home. Shot decades after Kahlo’s death, these images reflect an intimate study of objects, relics, and symbols, creating a dialogue between two of Mexico’s most iconic female artists—each deeply rooted in national identity and personal mythology.

But Iturbide’s vision has never been confined by geography. Her camera has documented lives in Panama, Madagascar, Cuba, and other countries, always with a sensitivity to local culture and a quest for universal human experiences. In doing so, she has built a cross-cultural archive that bridges tradition and transformation.

Global Acclaim and Legacy

Graciela Iturbide’s influence extends far beyond Latin America. Her work has been exhibited at premier institutions including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, London’s Barbican Art Gallery, the Hokkaido Museum of Photography in Japan, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. These exhibitions have secured her place in the canon of global fine art photography.

The Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, now in its 45th edition, marks a significant moment not only for Iturbide personally but also for photography as a recognised art form. It highlights the growing prestige of Latin American photographers in shaping contemporary visual narratives and preserving cultural memory through art.

A Win for Photography and Cultural Dialogue

The selection committee praised Iturbide for her “extraordinary capacity to document the fragility and strength of ancestral cultures,” noting how her images blend the poetic with the anthropological. Her award also reflects a broader shift in the art world—recognising photography not only as a tool for documentation but as an expressive form capable of deep cultural critique and philosophical reflection.

In winning the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, Iturbide joins an illustrious group of global cultural figures. The 2025 award cycle has already seen honours granted to Byung-Chul Han (Communication and Humanities), Eduardo Mendoza (Literature), and Douglas Massey (Social Sciences). Remaining categories—including Sports, Concordia, Scientific and Technical Research, and International Cooperation—will be announced in the coming weeks.

A Timeless Eye on a Changing World

At 83 years old, Graciela Iturbide remains an active, vital presence in the art world, continuing to teach, exhibit, and inspire. Her photographs, whether of a Oaxacan woman holding a boombox like a sacred relic or of desert landscapes shimmering with myth, evoke timeless questions about identity, transformation, and the spiritual weight of everyday life.

Her work reminds us that in an age of rapid change, there is immense value in pausing to observe, to reflect, and to document. As she receives Spain’s highest artistic honour, Iturbide stands not just as a photographer, but as a chronicler of human experience — one frame at a time.

Conclusion: A Lens Focused on Humanity

Graciela Iturbide’s work has always existed in the space between observation and reverence. Her photography is a quiet yet forceful challenge to cultural erasure, offering a visual vocabulary that dignifies, honours, and preserves.

In awarding her the 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, Spain not only recognises one of Latin America’s most important artistic voices but also affirms the enduring power of photography to tell stories that matter—stories that bridge generations, borders, and beliefs.

Through her lens, Iturbide has shown us not only what is, but what endures. Her photographs are more than images; they are invitations to see with clarity, humility, and grace.