Mujer Ángel

From the moment I first discovered Graciela Iturbide’s photography work, it was clear to me that the essence of her creativity was directly connected to her roots and a unique way of absorbing her social and cultural surroundings. One of her photographs particularly struck me—“Mujer Ángel". It is a profoundly enigmatic and poetic image of a Seri woman walking away from the camera in the vast Sonoran Desert, holding a 1970s portable radio. Graciela recounts that she took the photograph while conducting a study on the Seri people for the ethnographic archive of the National Indigenous Institute. She does not remember the exact moment she captured this iconic image—it was an instant the desert gifted her, only revealing itself when she developed her negatives: the silhouette of a woman seemingly “flying” across the desert, which she titled “Mujer Ángel” [“Angel Woman”].

The Seri people are an Indigenous group living in the Mexican state of Sonora. They describe themselves as men and women of sand who live in the wind. Graciela’s photograph represents their transition between a traditional way of life and modernity. The ancestral is embodied in the woman’s gait, in her attire. Modernity, in contrast, is symbolized by the portable radio—together, these elements illustrate the unique way the Seri people have adapted and survived in contemporary Mexico.

Solitude and mystery are announced in a figure that seems to belong to another world. Where is this bird-like woman headed within that endless horizon of sand and mountains? What might she be thinking? What could be playing on that radio?

Mujer Ángel is my sonic response to the sensations and emotions embedded in this photograph. In the first movement, “Los que viven en el viento” (“Those Who Live in the Wind”), the harmonics produced by the strings become sonic sands flying through the air, representing the fragility of human existence in the face of nature’s grandeur. The second movement, “Mujer Arena” (“Sand Woman”), seeks to evoke the intimacy and strength of Seri women through an intimate song inspired by an original melody from the Seri tradition, sung to welcome visitors from outside their community. Finally, in the third movement, “La velocidad de la óptica” (“The Speed of Optics”), my aim was to develop musical material that makes the listener aware of the presence of the camera and the person behind it. This material becomes increasingly swift and agile, representing that fleeting moment when, through an artist’s sensitivity and intuition, the magic of creation emerges.

The piece is dedicated to the Attacca Quartet.

Gabriela Ortiz