Self-portrait of Childhood, State of Mexico, Chalma
Sheet: 10 15/16 × 13 15/16 inches (27.78 × 35.4 cm)
Treasure
of Mexico in Kansas City. The Consulate of Mexico, Kansas City, MO, April
16 – July 16, 2012, no cat.
Rotation 22. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 10, 2016- January 8, 2017, no cat.
In this image of a young girl, Graciela Iturbide finds some personal connection to her own childhood. The girl, dressed to celebrate the feast day of San Miguel Arcangel, holds the hand of someone outside the frame. The exclusion of this presumably adult figure focuses attention on the child and her world.
Iturbide was born in Mexico City and studied photography with Manuel Alvarez Bravo. As inspiration, Bravo suggested that she explore the customs of pre-Hispanic Mexico outside the city. Her photographs are at once documentations of her subjects and her own personal discoveries.
Given by Jay MacDonald to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2003.
