Flor Garduño Biography

Mexican photographer, Flor Garduño’s photographs depict the landscapes of Central and South America and the people whose ancestors were indigenous to the region. The subjects in her images could have existed in a time long before the present moment and through photographing them, she brings the Indian land of America to the present moment. Her work focuses on time- past, present, and future- simultaneously. Through her photographs we witness the slow formation from life to death sprinkled with comic accidents, childish play, liturgical ceremonies, and erotic repose.

Garduño was born in Mexico City in 1957. She studied visual art at the Antigua Academia de San Carlos where she was taught by Hungarian photographer Kati Horna who inspired Garduño greatly. In 1979 she stopped her studies to work as a darkroom assistant for the well known photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, for whom she printed portfolios in both silver and platinum. Working for Bravo taught her both technical skills and influenced her aesthetics.

In 1981 she began working at the department of Public Education under the supervision of photographer Mariana Yampolsky. During this time she visited Mexico’s countryside to photograph rural communities for primary school textbooks. Garduño has since sought to reference traditional Mexican life, iconography and folklore in her work.

Garduño has published several books, the first being, Magia del Juego Eterno, published in 1986. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, the Bibliotéque National de France, Paris and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.