Cemeterio (Cemetery), Juchitán, Oaxaca,

1988

The Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide began photographing the people of Juchitán, Oaxaca, in 1979 and spent nearly a decade picturing the city and its inhabitants. Drawn to Juchitán by the traditional social prominence of its women, she presents visions of women’s lives in the matriarchal Zapotec society. In this image, a woman carrying firewood through the adobe tombs of a cemetery is swarmed by tiny swallows. Iturbide’s interest in Mexico’s syncretic religious practices is here exemplified by her attention to the unique architecture of the cemetery and her dramatic rendition of the scene.