Elsa Medina. Reminiscences
Elsa Medina's work blends photojournalism and personal exploration. Reminiscences brings together politics, disasters, experimentation, and intimate memory in a single journey
Image Center - Ministry of Culture of Mexico
Raquel Miguel Soto, Alfonso Navarrete, Alejandro Zepeda and Ana Victoria Pichardo Cruz
First glimpses
As a child, Elsa played with her father's camera. Without realizing it, she was already beginning to look at the world with curiosity.
From color to craft
Before photography, she painted in oils and watercolors. Color, form, and gesture were her first visual language. She learned that observing is also creating. This artistic sensibility would later become the foundation of her photographic work.
She studied Industrial Design at Ibero and later at San Diego State University. There she took her first technical photography classes: the lab became her workshop for thought.
Portraits and Roads
His first photographs were portraits of friends' children. Later, with CONAPO, he traveled throughout Mexico photographing rural life. Those images were lost, but they remain in his memory.
Learn to look
In the CUEC workshops with Nacho López, Elsa found her perspective. “From where are you seeing things?” he would ask. She understood that photography not only records, but also reveals who we are.
Mofi: collective photography
Together with her classmates, Elsa formed Mofi: a group that discussed, critiqued, and believed in photography as a form of collective reflection. From there, her visual consciousness germinated.
La Jornada: The Critical Eye
In 1986, he joined La Jornada. He covered politics, marches, and daily life. His camera sought out the human gesture amidst power. His most famous photograph: Salinas with his tongue sticking out.
The Eye on the South
In the 90s, he worked at the newspaper El Sur in Acapulco. From the coast, he continued to observe everyday life with the same critical eye: the country at ground level.
The Migrant from Tijuana
At the border, he photographed a man waiting to cross. He didn't know his name, but his face held the story of thousands. He would immortalize that image.
Grief and Tenderness
When her mother fell ill, Elsa photographed her for ten years. The camera bore witness to the care and love. “That’s how I still see her,” she says, “because to look is also to be with.”
The Birds and the Silence
After the loss, the birds arrived: hummingbirds, crows, a small bird hanging from a lamp. In them, she found signs of life, death, and transformation.
Acapulco, Guerrero (1993) by Elsa Medina Image Center - Ministry of Culture of Mexico
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