Rafaeldoniz

Rafael Doniz’s photography is close to perfection. Looking through his lens, he reveals the world as we know it. Doniz was born in Mexico City in 1948. He entered the world of photography as an apprentice to Manuel Álvarez Bravo from 1973 to 1976. During almost four decades his career has been notable for multiple photographic series, the popular movement of Juchitán (El movimiento popular de Juchitán), the worshiping farmers of Casa Santa (los campesinos devotos de Casa Santa), the immersion in the world of the Nayari-Cora (Nayari-Cora), the series on workers and employees of the working day and jobs (trabajadores y empleados de jornadas y oficios); his experiments in symbolism of shape (Simbología de la forma). Moreover, his continual travel across the country and his obsession with the fantastic world of plants and insects. Frequently, standing before his photographs, one feels as though one witnesses the birth of observation.

His work has been presented in the most important cities of America and Europe, where his work has also been published in books and magazines. His photographs can be found in a range of  collections some of these are the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, Casa de las Américas in Havana, Margolis Foundation and The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the Photographic Collection of Televisa Foundation, López Quiroga Gallery and Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago and Photographs Do Not Bend in Dallas.

In his long career Doniz has collaborated in more than a hundred editorial projects on archaeology, ethnography, sociology, architecture, ecology, colonial, modern and contemporary art. These works were edited in Mexico, United States and Europe. Some of the editorials that Doniz has worked with are Fomento Cultural Banamex and Landucci Editors in Mexico; Bendickt Taschen, Koenemann and Schimer/Mosel in Germany, Turner books in Spain, Les Editions Didier in France, Thames and Hudson in the UK, and Franco Maria Ricci e Rizzoli in Italy.

Víctor Muñoz Milpa Alta, México December 2011