Celebrated Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide received Princess of Asturias Award for her pioneering black-and-white portraits and global vision in 2025.
Graciela Iturbide, one of Mexico’s most influential photographers, has won the 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts. The Princess of Asturias Foundation jury recognized her pioneering black-and-white work and her deep engagement with social reality across continents.
The panel convened by the Princess of Asturias Foundation met under unusual circumstances. A blackout over the Iberian Peninsula forced the jury to hold its deliberations via videoconference. Miguel Zugaza Miranda chaired the group, which included Claude Bussac, Oliver Díaz Suárez, Josep Maria Flotats i Picas, Maribel López Zambrana, Joan Matabosch Grifoll, Isabel Muñoz Villalonga, María Pagés Madrigal, Christina Rosenvinge Hepworth, Teresa Sapey, Carlos Urroz Arancibia, and Aarón Zapico Braña as secretary.
Spain’s ambassador to Mexico, Juan Duarte Cuadrado, proposed Iturbide’s candidacy. The foundation received a record 49 nominations in the Arts category this year, representing 19 nationalities. The award recognizes creators in architecture, cinematography, dance, sculpture, photography, music, painting, theater, and other artistic fields.
Born in Mexico City on May 16, 1942, Iturbide first enrolled in film studies at UNAM’s Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos in 1969. A chance meeting with photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo shifted her path. She assisted Bravo between 1970 and 1971, absorbing his documentary eye before forging her own.
Iturbide developed a “hypnotic world” in her images—one that straddles harsh reality and spontaneous magic. In the 1970s, she journeyed across Latin America, documenting life in Cuba and Panama. In 1978, Mexico’s National Indigenous Institute commissioned her to photograph indigenous groups. Her work with the Seri and Juchitán communities culminated in the acclaimed book Juchitán de las mujeres (1989).
Over ensuing decades, Iturbide expanded her lens beyond Mexico. She worked in Cuba, East Germany, India, Madagascar, Hungary, France, and the United States. She explored new subjects—landscapes and found objects—while retaining her signature black-and-white palette and poetic eye.
“It’s a ritual,” Iturbide says of her process. “I go out with the camera, seek the mythological in people, then retreat into the darkness to develop and choose the most symbolic images.”
Major museums have showcased her solo exhibitions. She’s appeared at Paris’s Centre Pompidou, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and the Barbican Art Gallery, among others.
Iturbide’s books document her range: Avándaro (1971), La forma y la memoria (1996), Birds (2002), Eyes to Fly with / Ojos para volar (2006), Frida Kahlo’s Bathroom (2009), Mexico-Rome (2011), and There Is No One / No hay nadie (2011).
Her awards and honors reflect global esteem. France named her Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. Columbia College Chicago and the San Francisco Art Institute granted her honorary doctorates. She earned the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Prize (1987), France’s Mois de la Photo Grand Prize (1988), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1988), Germany’s Hugo Erfurth Prize (1989), Japan’s International Grand Prize (1990), France’s Rencontres de la Photographie Prize (1991), Mexico’s Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes (2008), Spain’s PHotoESPAÑA Prize (2010), the Lucie Award (2010), the Cornell Capa Prize (2015), and France’s William Klein Prize (2023).
The Princess of Asturias Awards highlight international achievements in science, culture, social action, and more. This Arts Award marks the fourth of eight prizes in the Foundation’s forty-fifth edition. Earlier this year, the foundation honored Byung-Chul Han with the Communication and Humanities Award, Eduardo Mendoza with the Literature Award, and Douglas Massey with the Social Sciences Award. Upcoming categories include Sports, Harmony, Scientific and Technical Research, and International Cooperation.
The winners will receive Joan Miró sculptures, certificates, badges, and €50,000 cash prizes at the ceremonial gala in October. Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain will preside, joined by Their Royal Highnesses the Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía.
By awarding Graciela Iturbide the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, the foundation spotlights a career that has reshaped photography’s boundaries. Her black-and-white images continue to reveal hidden layers of human experience, reinforcing Mexico’s vibrant cultural voice on the world stage.
