La cultura indígena en la fotografía mexicana de los 90s

Since its very beginning, Mexican photography has been an artistic genre dominated by non-indigenous people, whereas the indigenous culture has been a constant feature within photography. It was not until the 1990s that the first professional indigenous groups of photographers emerged. They not only had a great deal of success in Mexico, but also gained attention and recognition at international level. Their work was a valuable contribution to the vision of non-indigenous photographers who were known by then, and they brought a new direction to the presentation of the indigenous world in Mexican photography.


I decided to directly compare both groups of artists in this doctoral thesis, in order to highlight the similarities and disparities in their work. For this purpose, I selected a group sufficiently represented within the abundant pool of non-indigenous photographic works and, for the indigenous people, I chose the photographers best known in the country.


The essential part of my investigation process consisted of conducting more than fifty interviews, both with indigenous and non-indigenous photographers, as well as with several protagonists from the Mexican cultural environment. In the course of this investigation, I discovered which ethnic groups were most photographed at the end of the XX century, and I draw some conclusions regarding the future of indigenous photography in Mexico.

Since its very beginning, Mexican photography has been an artistic genre dominated by non-indigenous people, whereas the indigenous culture has been a constant feature within photography. It was not until the 1990s that the first professional indigenous groups of photographers emerged. They not only had a great deal of success in Mexico, but also gained attention and recognition at international level. Their work was a valuable contribution to the vision of non-indigenous photographers who were known by then, and they brought a new direction to the presentation of the indigenous world in Mexican photography.