About
María Elena Valdés (b. 1991) is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus on photography.
Valdés captures a raw yet quirky reality full of empathy and curiosity. Through different contexts and cultures, she presents stories that traverse contrasting ideologies, articulated through a highly calculated use of color and a radical sensitivity. Her practice is rooted in creating narratives through a constant questioning of the gaze—one that is directed inward.
Valdés takes an introspective path in which she examines photography beyond its literal function. Rather than seeking sharpness or structure, she embraces grain, breaks technique, and treats the edge of the negative and imperfection as form. Here, the flawed or accidental gains value. The image no longer merely documents, it is free.
Influenced by the Japanese Provoke movement of the 1960s and 1970s, urban culture, street photography, and social disorientation, Valdés sometimes rebels against the technical and formal norms of photography. The camera ceases to be a mirror, it does not seek to show what is seen, but what is felt.
From the shadow, the corporeal, the feminine, and the visceral, the image becomes a deeply personal visual language—an archive emerging from multiple memories. Her practice continues to evolve across photography, creative direction, and visual storytelling, and has most recently expanded into ceramics.
She is the author of publications such as Diario Pandemia (2020), Muxelandia (2018), and Ruth (2017). Her work has been exhibited internationally including New York, Mexico City, Miami, Austin, as well as in Japan and Thailand. She has been featured on platforms such as Nowness, The New York Times Magazine, Garage Magazine, VICE, L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Latinoamérica, Harper’s Bazaar US, and Cultura Colectiva, among others.