Coming from a family of athletes, Lourdes Grobet told in interviews the paradox that because she was a girl, her parents forbade her to go to fights. Years later, she as an artist, She would come to be considered the photographer of Mexican wrestling.
Born in 1940 in the Mexico City, studied Plastic Arts, Graphic Design and Photography. Among the teachers who most influenced her training, she pointed out Mathias Goeritz and El Santo, el Enmascarado de Plata.
He ventured into painting but preferred to dedicate himself to Photography. Among his work we find installation, objects and videos, among others. Her work behind the lens encompasses a wide subject matter, but she is primarily recognized for her gaze at the wrestling.
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Lourdes Grobet and her love for a marginal sport
His passion for photographing wrestling stemmed from his conviction that wrestling represented true Mexican culture; hence, he decided to focus most of his efforts on portraying what was happening inside and outside the pancracy.
With her snapshots she wanted sport to be treated with respect and for the observer to be able to transcend social class prejudice.
For more than two decades, Lourdes Grobet photographed fighters in the arenas, the locker rooms, at their parties and even in the privacy of their homes; almost always wearing his masks, as these represent a form of empowerment.
In fact, he immortalized Blue Demon, The Saint, Fray Stormand also made visible the fighting women: putting on makeup, in their role as mothers, cooking and working.
He took thousands of photographs of fighters and many can be seen in the book Wrestling Spectacular, published in 2005 with text by Carlos Monsivais.
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Lourdes Grobet, the legacy
Currently, Lourdes Grobet is considered a pioneer of Mexican wrestling photography. Let us remember that in the early 1980s this sport was rather marginal and, in part, thanks to his work, it has become popular.
The artist exhibited her photographs all over the world and her works are part of the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Artthe Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and the Image Center in Mexico City.
Lourdes Grobet died in July this 2022, at the age of 81, from cancer. He is survived by four children. His legacy is indisputable.
Beautiful woman is the one who fights, she meets some of the fiercest champions of the golden age of Mexican Wrestling.
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