Photographers

Alejandro Cartagena (born 1977 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Mexican photographer whose work examines the social, urban, economic, and environmental realities of contemporary Latin America. Based in Monterrey since the 1990s, he is known for using landscape, portraiture, and conceptual documentary strategies to reveal the structural forces shaping everyday life. His long‑term projects often analyze suburban expansion, labor conditions, and the contradictions of modernization, making him one of the most internationally recognized photographers from Mexico today.

Cartagena has exhibited in more than fifty solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including major institutions such as the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the CCCB in Barcelona, and numerous photography festivals and museums across the Americas and Europe. His photographs are held in prestigious collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and the George Eastman Museum.

He is also an influential photobook maker, editor, and self‑publisher. Cartagena has produced an extensive list of acclaimed monographs—among them *Suburbia Mexicana*, *Carpoolers*, *Rivers of Power*, *A Guide to Infrastructure and Corruption*, *Santa Barbara*, and *A Small Guide to Homeownership*. Many of his books appear in prominent photobook libraries such as Yale University, Tate Britain, and specialized collections dedicated to Latin American photography. His publishing practice expands his documentary inquiries into multi‑layered visual investigations of politics, urbanism, labor, and collective identity.

Cartagena’s work has earned numerous awards, including the Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award, the Lente Latino Award, the Premio IILA–Fotografía Award in Rome, and the Street Photography Award at the London Photo Festival. He has been selected as a FotoFest International Discovery, a Foam Magazine Talent, and an Emerging Photographer by PDN. He has also been shortlisted and nominated for major honors such as the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, the Prix Pictet, the Aperture Portfolio Award, and the PhotoEspaña Discoveries Award. His photographs are widely published in outlets including The New York Times, Le Monde, Newsweek, Wallpaper, Domus, Stern, and The New Yorker.

Today Cartagena continues to work between photography, publishing, and cultural production, expanding his visual research into urban inequality, mobility, suburbanization, and the socioeconomic landscapes of Mexico. His practice is considered a critical voice in understanding the transformation of Latin American cities in the 21st century.