November 23, 2024 - August 10, 2025

 Mint Museum Randolph: Belk Gallery 

Women of Land and Smoke features the work of Graciela Iturbide and Maya Goded, two acclaimed Mexican photographers focused on women’s roles across different communities and environments. Although decades apart in age, both artists share a commitment to revealing complex and often underrepresented facets of women’s lives. The exhibition showcases over 50 pieces from these photographers, including recent acquisitions. These new additions enrich the museum’s permanent collection and deepen its representation of influential Latin American photographers. 

In the 1990s, Iturbide became a mentor to Goded through a government grant that enabled Goded to study Iturbide’s process and unique visual language closely. The two artists developed a strong connection, grounded in shared perspectives on worldviews, politics, and spirituality. This close relationship has shaped their individual practices and the development of their distinct voices within Mexican photography. Goded often captures difficult scenes visually these encounters include themes like sex work, femicides, and Earth contaminants she depicts the scenes through a Documentary style. In contrast, Iturbide takes a more contemplative approach, capturing images only when she feels a profound connection to the moment. This difference in temperament and visual style brings a complementary contrast to their work, allowing viewers to experience a rich dialogue between two powerful artistic voices. Together, their photographs present a nuanced exploration of spirituality, resilience, and identity.

mintmuseum.org exhibition page 

Relationship between the lives and work of Iturbide and Goded

• "Two Mexican Photographers on Vulnerability and Legacy" , New York Times (April 2023)

• Documenting the Lives of Women Lost in the Shadows, by Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD

More on Garciela Iturbide

• MoMA Artist Page on Iturbide's influences and process  

• Graciela Iturbide's Mexico:  Video by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 

More on Maya Goded 

• Photography projects from Goded's artist website 
• About Goded's Plaza de la Soledad film from artist's website 

Mint Museum Library Resources  

• América Latina, 1960 - 2013: Photographs, by Luis Camnitzer, Oliver Compagnon, et al. 

               (TR 646. L29 A 4413 2013)  

• Eternidad Fugitiva: Imagenes de las Colecciones Fotograficas de Fundación Televisa / Fugitive Eternity: Images from the Photographic Collections of the Televisa Foundation, by Televisa Foundation

               (TR 646. M462 M493 2005)  

• Good Girls by Maya Goded

               (TR 681. P73 G6313 2006) 

• Graciela Iturbide: Heliotropo 37etern

               (TR 647 . I88 2022) 

• Graciela Iturbide: On Dreams, Symbols, and Imagination, by Graciela Iturbide

               (TR 647. I 88 2022)  

• Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide, by Isabel Quintero

               (TR 140. I88 Q56 2018) 

• Photographing the Unseen Mexico: Maya Goded's Socially Engaged Documentaries, by Dominika Gasiorowski

               (TR 820.5 G39 2018)

• White Fence, by Graciela Iturbide

               (TR 680. I88 2024)

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Created by Jose Canas Vargas