Lourdes Grobet

Lourdes Grobet Argüelles (born 25 July 1940) is a contemporary Mexican photographer, known for her photographs of Mexican lucha libre wrestlers.
Grobet spent some time as a painter before focussing on photography. Her photography led her to explore lucha libre and she spent a lot of time getting to know the "luchadores" (wrestlers). Grobet has done some theatre and video, and has published several books. Grobet has had quite a lot of exhibitions, and has received many grants and awards for her work.
Early life.
Grobet was born in Mexico City, where she grew up with her parents. Grobet took a formal painting class at the Academy of San Carlos. Her parents did not like the views of the school and sent her to work under a Catholic professor named José Suárez Olvera, who painted murals for the Church of San Francisco. She did not care for his work much because she felt it lacked originality. Grobet asked herself what art is, “Looking around, and after asking myself the inevitable questions about what art is, it became clear that for me it was a language, a way of saying things, and so I had to find the best way of saying them.”
Education.
Lourdes Grobet studied plastic arts at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and graphic design and photography in Britain at Cardiff College of Art and Derby College for Higher Education. She was very moved by her professor Mathias Goeritz, from whom she learned that mass media showed a new way of expression. When Goeritz gave up teaching, he asked Grobet to be his assistant while he worked on stained glassed windows for the Mexico City Cathedral. She studied in England in 1977 and had done a few landscape paintings. She ended up failing, however, because the photography faculty did not like that she altered the landscape and strayed away from keeping it purely documentary.
Career.
Katy Horna introduced Grobet to the world of photography, though the main influences in her early career were Mathias Goeritz, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, El Santo and others.
Grobet studied as a painter in Mexico for some time and then took a trip to Paris in 1968, it changed her life and the way that she viewed the art world.
While she was in Paris she visited a lot of art galleries and discovered Kinetic Art and because of this, she likes to work with Multi-Media. She spent some time working with a Jazz concert controlling lighting and kinetic projections. When Grobet returned to Mexico, she decided that she wanted to focus on photography, after she got back home she decided to burn all of her old work and start over.
In 1981 Grobet released her first set of photographs. At the beginning of her career in photography, she was part of a group called Consejo Mexicano de Fotografía (Mexican Council of Photography), formed by Pedro Meyer in 1977. With her participation in this group, she was able to revitalize photography in Mexico, which lead to a movement called the Grupos. Grobet was focused on establishing a community-based perspective.
Grobet spent some time with Indigenous people and during a time of great struggle for them. She took the time to learn more about them and photograph them in a theatrical way. She wanted to relate to Indigenous people using her artistic initiative, so they had made costumes and scenery of their own and she then took their photos. Later on, Grobet took interest in the Mayan culture. Wanting to learn more about the Mayans she went to the suburbs, this was a less common action, but she wanted to steer clear of any tourists. She wanted to get accurate information and explore an area less traveled. She discovered temples that were made by an unknown civilization and she decided they were to be called the Olmayazetec.
After her education and her travels, she came back to Mexico. She once again started to explore her childhood interest of luchadores. She found that there was very little information pertaining to the luchadores and so she decided that she wanted to make them more known to the world.
Grobet spent thirty years devoted to taking pictures of the luchadores and studying their way of life. She spent time photographing Lucha Libre wrestlers inside and outside of the ring, both in their masks, but also in their own homes. Grobet wanted to show that they lived normal lives, just like everyone else. She got very close with well known Lucha Libre wrestlers such as: El Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, Sagrada, Octagon, Misioneros de la Muerte, Los Perros del Mal, and Los Brazos. Much influenced by Mathias Goeritz, the Polish sculptor from Gdańsk and by Gilberto Aceves Navarro, a Mexican master of art murals, who were her teachers, Lourdes Grobet worked on pictures of "El Santo", one of the most important Mexican wrestlers, and a hero of "Lucha libre" who starred in more than 50 films. Since 1975, she has published more than photographs of the sport, including those on the sport in the United States since the 1930s, and as an important part of Mexican popular culture, adopting a sociological attitude. The sport involves many costumes and masks, leading it to a sport-carnival air which is much appreciated by Mexicans.
Grobet has had over one hundred exhibitions of her photographs, both group and solo exhibitions. She had her work exhibited in the London Mexfest festival in 2012. She won an award at the Second Biennal in Fine art photography. In 1975, for the exhibition "Hora y media", she transformed a gallery into a photographic laboratory. She developed the photographs, but without fixing them, and displayed them on three walls. While the public looked at the photographs, the lights from the gallery meant that they disappeared.
In 1977, she presented "Travelling", an exhibition of photography on an escalator. Among other works, she took: "Paisajes pintados", "Teatro campesino", "Strip Tease".
Personal life.
Grobet married Xavier Perez Barba in 1962 and they had four children together. They divorced in 1974.
Work and process.
As Grobet is making her photographs, she desires to understand reality better. According to Grobet, and as noted in her 2004 book "Lourdes Grobet: On the Eye’s Edge""," “she has used this photographic experience as an inductive process in order to understand or 'live' reality (or realities) rather than illustrate certain preconceived ideas. She is not scared to employ different (sometimes contradictory) languages available to her to speak of her particular experience and standpoint, thus sacrificing formal purism. In her own way, Grobet manages to use photography to relate to herself, to relate to us and to take action in the problematic reality that is Mexico.” 
Some of the work that she does is collaborative, while others, she likes to do on her own time. When photographing the luchadores she wants to show their tough side, but she also wants to show the fragile side as well. Grobet wants to uncover the roots of the Lucha Libre. She wants to show that the Lucha Libre is important to the culture of Mexico and that they are meant to be related back to the time of the Aztecs. Grobet found that there was not much information found about these fascinating Luchadores. She wants the luchadores to get the recognition they deserve as Mexico's important cultural figure.
Exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions.
2015 Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2013 "Wrestling" Méxican consulate, Miami, FL, USA
2012 "El nuevo hombre de Bering" (The New Man of Bering)"," NegPos, Nîmes, France
2010 "Equilibrium & Resistance" Gallery UAM Mexico City
2010 "Espectacular de Lucha Libre"/National Museum of Art, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
2009 "Equilibrium & Resistance/Museo Archivo de la Fotografía, Mexico City
2008 "La Mano Negra" / IMSS. México
2008 "Upside Down Les Artiques"/ Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France
2007 " Lucha libre" / Foto España. Madrid, Spain
2006 "Lucha libre" / three subway stations. México D.F.
2005 "Lourdes Grobet: Retrospective", Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
2005 "Black Party" / New York, USA
2005 "Painted Landscapes"/ Alicante University, Spain
2000 "Lucha Libre" / Centro Cultural Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico
2000 "Prometheus Unisex installation / Ex-Teresa, Mexico City
1988 "Manteles de Septiembre" / Café la Gloria, Mexico City
1997 "Tres Caidas / Centro Alvarez Bravo, Oaxaca, Mexico
1996 "Pop, Mass and Sub-culture / Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada
1996 "La Filomena" / Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City
1995 "The Mask in Mexican Culture / Erfurt, Germany
1992 "Which Conquest are we Talking About?"/ Mexico City and Quito, Ecuador
1990 "Neo-Olmayaztec"/, Gilardi gallery, Mexico City
1983 "53 cuadras", Museo del Chopo, Mexico City
1980 82-85-91 / "Lucha Libre"/, Mexico City-Chicago-Havana-Amsterdam
1977-1991 "Painted Landscapes" / Derby, Great Britain-Mexico City
1977 "Travelling Exhibition" / Derby, Great Britain
1975 "Hora y media" (Hour and a half) / Casa del Lago, Mexico City
1973 "A la mesa" (To the table) / Casa del Lago, Mexico City
1970 "Serendípiti" (Serendipity) / Galería Misrachi, Mexico City
Group exhibitions.
2013 "Painted Landscapes"/ Photographic Biennial Bogotá, Colombia
2012 "London MexFest"/ Rich Mix, London, Great Britain
2012 "Photography in Mexico" / SFMOMA., USA
2012 "Women behind the camera"/ Arosena Museum, Coahuila, Mexico
2012 3 Color" (Mexican photography) Hungary
2011 "3 Color" (Mexican photography) Turkey
2011 "Ethics and Obscenity"/ Quiñonera gallery Mexico City
2011 "Women behind the camera"/ Tijuana Mexico
2011 "Mexican worlds"/ Inst. Mexico, Spain
2011 "Neomexicanismos"/ Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City
2008 "Mexican Women Artist, XX Century"/ Monterrey, Mexico
2007 International Photo Festival, Pingyao China
2007 "The End is Nigh" / Higher Pictures, New York, USA
2007 "La Era de la Discrepancia"/, University Museum. México
2007 "Cocei". Centro Alvarez Bravo, Oaxaca, México
2005 "Estrategia que Muta"/, Xanon Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2003 "Aparentemente Sublime"/ Bancomer Salon, Mexico City
2003 "Lucha Libre"/ . Centro Historico Festival, Mexico City
2002 "Color Surfaces"/. Berlín, Germany
2002 "ABCDF"/ Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City
2001 "Urban Pornography"/, New York, U.S.A.
2001 "Zoología sobre Gelatina"/, several cities of México
2001 "Con Ojeras de Mujer"/, México, Cuba, Spain
1999-2000 "Visual Voices of Mexico" / Long Beach, CA, Washington, D.C., Tijuana, Mexico
1998 "Fotonovela" / Camerawork, San Francisco, CA, USA
1997-99 "Cofradía de Luz" / several cities of Mexico
1996 "Vision/Revision" / Evenston, IL, USA
1996 "Con Ojos de Mujer" / Beijing, China
1994 "A Shadow Born of Earth" / San Diego, CA, Oklahoma, and other cities of the US
1994-1981 Work showed at I-II-III-IV- V Havana Biennal, Havana, Cuba
1993 "Europalia" / Brussels, Belgium
1992-1993 Work showed / at 53rd and 54th International Salons, Tokyo, Japan
1991 Participation / at Tenerife International Biennal Canarias, Spain
1990 "Stapling the Frontier" / across the 3000 km. Mexico-US border
1990 "Compañeras de México" / Riverside, CA and other cities of the US
1987 "Mexican Women Photographers" / New York, USA
1979-1981 Participation / Coloquio mexicano de Fotografía, Mexico City
1979 "Mexican Photography" / Sweden, Germany, France and other European countries
Theatre, film, and video.
2013 "Equilibrium & Resistance, bering Strait. documentary
2012 "The New man of Bering" NegPos gallery, Nîmes France
2011 "Hear the silence"/ work of sculptor Helen Escobedo. México
2010 "On Human Scale"/ work of sculptor Helen Escobedo. México
2009-10 "Interactiv, Images of BeringStrait" / MAF. México
2008-09 Frontier/ Musée du Quai Branly, Paris France. Museo Archivo de la Fotografia Mexico City
2008-09 Fluxus/ Musée du Quai Branly, Paris France. Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
2006 "Lobulos on Line"/ Mexico City
2005 "Grobet Witch Project"/. Alicante University Spain
2003 "As-Is"/, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico city.
2002 "Prometheus Unisex"36th New York Expo. Film and video. New York. USA
2001 "Prometheus Unisex" / Video Biennal Brazil
2000 "Prometheus Unisex" / ExTeresa Arte Actual, Mexico City
2000–1995, videos for Teatro Campesino e Indigena, theatre group, Mexico
1996 "Luz y Fer " / Centro de la Imagen, México City
1992 "Lucha Libre" / interview for French Television
1990 "Lucha Libre"/ film for BBC London Great Britain
1986–2001, photographs for Teatro Campesino e Indígena, theatre group, Mexico
1983-84 "De Mugir a Mujer / performance, Casa del Lago, Mexico City
1978-1992 Theatre collaborations with Susana Alexander
Collections.
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Fundación Cultural Televisa
Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico
Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA