Graphic Novel Follows Artistic Journeys Of Iconic Mexican Photographer Graciela Iturbide

A new graphic novel uses the words and images of an iconic Mexican photographer to inspire creativity in young readers. The book photographic follows the artistic journeys of Graciella each day. At first she seemed destined for a traditional life as a wife and mother. Then she found her artistic vision through the lens of a camera. This ambitious graphic novel was written by Southern California author Isabel Quintero and illustrated by Zeek Penya. Isabel Quintero joins me now by Skype and Isabel welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. Now it stands to reason that a book about a great photographer would have pictures. But how did the idea come about to blend photos illustrations and text in such an imaginative way. Well actually the book was commissioned by the Getty. So they already have this project in mind of what they wanted to see when you had to be a graphic novel but other than that they just kind of let us have creative freedom. So of course we had to have your photographs included and so the book was just able to find a way to blend the illustrations and the photograph in such a way that it was really seamless when I was younger she wanted to be a poet and her family told her no she couldn't be a writer because women had children they got married. That's the kind of life they lived. And so when I approached the text I wanted to kind of honor her. You know what she wanted to be as a younger person you know. And I also looked her photographs through poetic lens and that's how the text came to kind of flow in and out the way it does. You really give inside her head in the text in this book. Did you use biographies printed materials. How did you do that. All of the above. I did. I read a lot of interviews and I read essays and I spent a lot of time with her work. And I also interviewed some of her friends and herself. We were able to interview her ask her questions. She was gracious enough to send photographs that she had sent other places so like there's a photograph where she's looking out the window of the plane and that photograph had never been published before. And so that was the first photograph she'd ever taken. And it's when she was a young girl. And so we were lucky enough to have that. Talk to us about the illustrations in the book. Thereby Zeke Banya. He worked very closely with the authors and along the way that while he's with me about the way he worked. And so I would do. I did most of the research and I would send him images and I would send him you know research and interesting information that I found. And he was illustrating as I was writing because we were on such a tight deadline. And so it had to be this kind of ebb and flow of of me writing and then him illustrating and going back and forth like that through the whole process. Here's what illustrator Zeke Penya said about the process of working on the book. Graciella photographs are really just kind of at the center of the process. For me it was really kind of like a collaboration with her so to speak through her photographs and letting them really lead the way you know like there are photographs in the actual book you know reproductions of her photographs from the book but so many of the illustrations are based directly from her photographs. So I really just can't really even understand the kind of like her approach to photography and Isabel Quintero. Can you describe some of aggressive yellers most iconic photos. One of her most iconic photographs is our Lady of one of know something and other people the US. And that's in the section on Hoochie that you know that's a very iconic photo is the woman wearing this crown of iguanas. And that photograph has been reproduced all over the world. In fact the Spanish title for the book is iguana lady. But one of my favorite sections of the book is actually the section on retools that's one of my favorite series that she has and she took photographs of the slaughtering of the goats in Mixteca. And it's this ritual I guess that's been going on for the last five hundred years. But more than a ritual. It's basically like the Spanish colonizers came in took over Indigenous land and had indigenous people slaughter goats for them. And it's still a practice that continues today. And so what she has to say about the slaughtering of the goats and then also her photographs. It's just one of my favorite Syrians that she has now the desert and the people who live there are also frequent subjects for you to be those work. Here's what illustrator Zeek Penya had to say. I mean I definitely relate to you know a lot of the work that she does about people who come from the other because that's where I come from so I'm definitely drawn to those photographs and definitely drawn to what I see is like her understanding of portering of people right where they're from now. Isabelle you'll be presenting this young adult book at the San Diego Festival of Books this Saturday. What would you like young people to take away from this book. I would like young people or anybody really who read the book I would like them to you know step into different world worlds right. Because herbut Yela photography is a way of understanding the world of understanding herself. And I would like young people to take the same thing away. She's a very well known photographer around the world. But often when I talk to people about the book they don't know who she is and it makes me sad. So I just want them to learn about her to learn about photography. I want them to open the book and to be transported into the places that were photographed because for her photography is truth. Every image she takes she feels she's taking a photograph of truth. It's not something surreal it's not something magical. And so I'd really like anyone who read the book to imagine different truths and experiences beyond her own. I've been speaking with Isabel Quinteros. She'll be talking about her book photographing the life of Graciella eat or be at the San Diego Festival of Books this Saturday and Thank you so much. Thank you