Photographer Graciela Iturbide wins Princess of Asturias Arts Award

Euronews

6 days ago

Born in Mexico City in 1942, Graciela Iturbide has for more than five decades developed a photographic oeuvre that transcends the boundaries of conventional art.
Her work is characterised by a deep sensitivity to ancestral cultures and an exceptional ability to capture the essence of communities in transition.
She conceives photography as a tool for cultural knowledge, exploration and research, creating images that reveal both the fragility and resilience of age-old traditions.
Her distinctive style, predominantly in black and white, succeeds in conveying the complex interaction between nature and culture, while exploring the symbolic dimension of landscapes and everyday objects transformed by her artistic gaze. This approach has made Iturbide an indispensable visual chronicler for understanding the socio-cultural evolution of Mexico and Latin America.
Among Graciela Iturbide's most renowned works is her extraordinary 1979 photographic record of the Seri Indians of the Sonoran Desert, a series that exemplifies her ability to document cultures at risk of disappearing with respect and artistic depth. Equally celebrated is her series on Frida Kahlo's bathroom in Coyoacán, where she captures the intimacy and symbolism of the iconic Mexican painter's personal space.
Her work has transcended geographical boundaries, portraying not only indigenous peoples in Mexico, but also communities in Panama, Madagascar and Cuba. This geographic breadth demonstrates her commitment to the visual preservation of diverse cultures and her ability to find commonalities in the human experience.
Her work has been recognised and rewarded around the world in prestigious exhibitions such as 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 positioned her work in the canon of fine art photography worldwide.
Iturbide's selection represents royal recognition of photography as an artistic discipline and specifically the social and cultural documentation that characterises her oeuvre.
It also underlines the growing importance of Latin American photography in the global art scene.
Iturbide's award is the fourth in the XLV edition of the Princess of Asturias Awards.** Previously, the Communication and Humanities Award went to the South Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, the Literature Award to the Barcelona writer Eduardo Mendoza, and the Social Sciences Award to the American sociologist and demographer Douglas Massey.
Over the next three weeks, the remaining categories will be awarded: Sports on 28 May, Concordia on 4 June, Scientific and Technical Research on 12 June, and International Cooperation on 18 June.
"Streamer University" is a project for aspiring content creators, founded by American streamer Kai Cenat, the most-subscribed streamer on Twitch. In recent years, he's become a global internet celebrity, known for coining viral catchphrases like 'rizz.' The term, which is internet slang for charisma, even became so popular that Oxford University Press named it the 2023 Word of the Year.
Cenat also made headlines after a giveaway that he organized in New York City spiraled out of control – ultimately leading to him being charged with inciting a riot.
It was during a Twitch stream, Cenat had announced a 'huge giveaway' in Union Square, promising computers, PlayStation 5s and gift cards.
Thousands of fans flooded the area, turning the event into a chaotic scene that led to injuries, property damage and multiple arrests.
Streamer University is his next viral venture. On X, he described it as an 'all inclusive trip paid to where all creators will be living on a college campus for FREE and just enjoying getting content in general'.
The college campus in question is yet to be announced.
Notable courses mentioned on the university's site are sex education, business management and music production. Despite its educational framing, it will likely take the form of a weekend-long influencer meetup.
The initiative was launched earlier this month through a Harry Potter-inspired comedy video on Cenat's X account, where he currently has 2,8 million followers.
Applications are still open – both to students and to professors. Through a Google Docs form, candidates must answer questions such as 'Can you bite your elbow?', 'How many jumping jacks can you do?' and 'Which planet has the most moons in the solar system?' to enroll. Potential professors are also required to disclose their pants size and follower count on social media.
Within minutes of the site's launch, more than a million applications were allegedly filed, causing it to crash.
On 17 May, in an almost four hour long video, Cenat announced the professors and students for the class of 2025 – a mix of well known streamers, Youtubers and influencers, including Cookingwithkya, Agent 00 and Duke Dennis.
Many of the professors are members of Cenat's own group, AMP (Any Means Possible), a content collective made up of some of the internet's biggest streaming personalities.
Founded around 2019, AMP has built a massive following with more than seven million subscribers on YouTube. By collaborating on videos, stunts and challenges, the group amplifies each other's reach – which is also the point of the university.
But the announcement of professors and students wasn't without backlash. Many fans went to social media to criticize the selection, arguing that the chosen students were already well-known influencers, undermining the idea of giving newcomers a chance.
Kai Cenat didn't hold back in his response, addressing the criticism during a recent livestream.
'I'm never doing this shit again,' he said. 'No matter which direction I go, no matter which way, I try to make sure things are good, I always get the bad end of the stick.'
Given Cenat's frustrated response, it remains uncertain whether Streamer University will return for another class – raising the possibility that the project may have collapsed before a single streaming lesson was ever taught.