Photoville

Cinthya Santos Briones
Cinthya Santos Briones

This project focuses on undocumented Mexican immigrant women who came to New York decades ago in search of opportunity for their families. Overtime, they built their lives here and have become elders of their communities: the abuelas. Many have children and grandchildren living on either side of the borders. Yet 20 and 30 years later, they still remain invisible and undocumented.

I made portraits of these women in the intimacy of their own homes, seeking to convey the women’s relationship to place, and the shaping and appropriation of their environment. In these photographs, home decorations become part of the women’s wider symbolic recreation of culture, memory and ownership beyond borders.

I photograph these environmental portraits in a participatory manner. I ask the women, “How do you like to be seen or represented through photography?” They choose how and where they want to be seen in their homes and what outfits they want to wear. The series seeks to offer them the opportunity to face the camera and be depicted in a way that reflects their own sense of identity.

Artist Bios

  • Cinthya Santos Briones

    Cinthya Santos Briones

    Cinthya Santos Briones is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker of Nahua Indigenous heritage based in New York. With a background in Ethnohistory and Anthropology, she spent a decade conducting research at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), focusing on Indigenous migration, codices, textiles, and traditional medicine. Her multidisciplinary practice combines participatory art and collective storytelling, weaving together nonlinear narratives through photography, archival material, writing, ethnography, drawing, collage, embroidery, and popular education. Her work centers community voices and social engagement.

    Cinthya holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Photography from Ithaca-Cornell University and a Certificate in Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism from the International Center of Photography (ICP). She is currently an adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and serves as Associate Director of Outreach and Partnerships at the Mexican Institute, where she also leads interdisciplinary research projects.

    She has been a guest artist at institutions such as Columbia University, Rutgers University, and the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. Her work has received numerous fellowships and grants, including from the Magnum Foundation (2016, 2018, 2020), En Foco (2017, 2022), National Geographic Research and Exploration (2018), We Women (2019), City Artist Corps (2020), Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts (2009, 2011), Wave Hill House Winter Residency (2023), Mellon Artist Fellowship at the Hemispheric Institute of NYU (2023–24), BricLab Contemporary Art (2023), Talk of the Town AIR at El Museo del Barrio (2024), and NYSCA (2025), among others.

    Her photography and written work have appeared in The New York Times, PDN, California Sunday Magazine, Vogue, Open Society Foundations, Buzzfeed, The Intercept, The New Yorker, The Nation, and more. As a writer, she has contributed to academic and journalistic publications including NACLA, The Nation, and La Jornada.

    Cinthya has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as Sky Blue Gallery (Portland, OR), The Latinx Project at NYU, the International Center of Photography, El Museo del Barrio, the Museum of the City of New York, Trout Museum (Wisconsin), and the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University. She has presented artist talks at numerous universities including Columbia, NYU, Boston College, CUNY, SUNY New Paltz, and Dutchess Community College.

    She is co-author of the book The Indigenous Worldview and Its Representations in Textiles of the Nahua Community of Santa Ana Tzacuala, Hidalgo and co-creator of the documentary The Huichapan Codex. In addition to her artistic practice, Cinthya has worked as a community organizer with pro-immigrant organizations in New York, addressing issues such as detention, education, and sanctuary. She has also volunteered to accompany migrants to immigration courts and asylum proceedings, and serves as a guardian for unaccompanied migrant children.

Organizations

  • United Photo Industries (UPI)

    United Photo Industries (UPI)

    United Photo Industries (UPI) is a New York based nonprofit organization that works to promote a wider understanding of, and increased access to, the art of photography.

    Since its founding in 2011, UPI has rapidly solidified its position in the public art landscape by continuing to showcase thought-provoking, challenging, and exceptional photography from across the globe. In its first seven years, UPI has presented the work of more than 2,500 visual artists in gallery exhibitions and public art installations worldwide.

Abuelas: Portraits of The Invisible Grandmothers

 archive : 2017

Featuring: Cinthya Santos Briones

Curated by: James Estrin David Gonzalez

Presented by: United Photo Industries (UPI)
  • United Photo Industries (UPI)

Locations

View Location Details Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza

1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201

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