White Fence

Iturbide revisits the predominantly Mexican American community of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, home of the legendary White Fence gang

Under the gaze of famed Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, this project vividly portrays the lives of several residents of the Chicano community in Boyle Heights, located in Eastside Los Angeles. The title refers to the historical street gang known as White Fence that has held established territory in Boyle Heights since 1900. They were one of the most violent Eastside gangs of the 20th century and among the first to use weapons.
Starting with the photographs that Iturbide took in 1986 on assignment for the magazine A Day in the Life of America and culminating in a reunion in 2019, this publication is divided into two volumes, housed in a slipcase. The first book presents the series of images captured in 1986, 1989, 2018 and 2019. The second volume includes the essay White Fence Revisited by Alfonso Morales Carrillo describing both the development of this photographic series and the historic background it ultimately conveys: the formation and persistence of communities of Mexican descent north of the Rio Grande. White Fence is an emotional visual journey through decades of history: an intimate exploration of identity that connects the past and present of this fascinating community in Los Angeles.
Graciela Iturbide was born in 1942 in Mexico City. Her photographic documentation of Indigenous tribes of Mexico resulted in the publication of her book Juchitán de las Mujeres in 1989. Between 1980 and 2000, Iturbide continued to gain international recognition and was invited to work in various places, including Cuba, East Germany, India, Madagascar, Hungary, France and the United States.