Rafael Doníz was born in Mexico City in 1948. It was here where he started working in photography as an assistant and disciple of Manuel Álvarez Bravo from 1972 to 1976.
His personal work is as extensive as it is varied, and can be seen as structured in various photographic series. Some of his published books have social themes, such as the one edited by and also titled the Ayuntamiento popular de Juchitán (People’s Council of Juchitán) on the popular movement of this region, or another one by the Fondo de Cultura Económica in the series Río de Luz with the title ¨Casa Santa” (Holy House). He has portfolios on the tribe “Nayari-Cora” in Nayarit, on craftsmen and workers in “Jornadas y oficios”, or another one in which he approaches a purely aesthetic and experimental theme called “Simbología de la Forma” (Symbology of the Form) as well. Yet another passion of his is the the work on landscapes. His work was presented at several exhibitions in recent years, such as “Grado de Grises” (Grade of Greys) at the Lopez Quiroga Gallery in March 2009, or in May 2010 “Vulcano Mexico” at the Manuel Felguérez Gallery of the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City. Some of his work on landscapes has also been published in the book “Popocatepetl – Iztaccihuatl. Sacred Mountains of Mexico”. This series of photographs was reissued in 2024 in a revised and expanded version and including a text by the renowned writer Elena Poniatowska. In one of his latest books “De Gigantas y otras Quimeras” (About Giants and other Chimeras) he covers yet another theme. Here he captures fleeting moments of a reality that sometimes seems like a fiction impregnated with humor and irony. And last but not least in 2023, he published a homage to the women of Mexico’s various regions entitled “Mujeres del México profundo” (Women from Deep Mexico).
His photographs are in various collections. Particularly notable among these are the California Museum of Photography (Riverside/Cal, USA), the Casa de las Americas (Havana, Cuba), the Center for Creative Photography and the Margolis Foundation (Tucson/Arizona, USA), the Charles Isaacs Photographs Inc. and Grégory Leroy Fine Photographs (New York/Paris), the Acervo Fotográfico del Centro de la Imagen, the Colección Fotográfica de la Fundación Televisa, the Fundación Colección Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, the Galería López Quiroga, the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Museo Rufino Tamayo (Mexico City), the IAGO (Oaxaca, Mexico), the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (Chicago/Ill., USA), the Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery (Dallas/Tx., USA), and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C., USA).
Doníz has exhibited his work in different cities in Europe, the United States and South America. The following are his latest exhibitions in Mexico:
“Héroes Anónimos” (Anonymous Heroes) at the Basílica de Guadalupe in September 2010 and at the Centro Cultural Isidro Fabela in April 2011 in Mexico City;
“Espacio y Luz” (Space and Light) in May 2010 at the Museo de la Ciudad de Queretaro;
At the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City he participated in the group exhibition “Hacia la Barriga de un Pichón” in August 2010;
“El Paisaje Cultural Eterno. Cuevas de Yagul y Mitla” (The Eternal Cultural Landscape. Caves of Yagul and Mitla), was presented at the Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca in May-July 2012 and from May to July 2013 at the Museo Ex-Convento de Tepoztlán;
“Salineros: Retrato vivo de un oficio olvidado” (Salt Miners: Living Portrait of a Forgotten Tradition) was presented at the Centro de las Artes de San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca in Sept.-November 2012;
From August 2013 to January 2014 his work was presented in the Centro Cultural Tijuana in the group show “Paisaje Contemporáneo” (Contemporary Landscape);
In September 2014, in collaboration with the artist Francisco Toledo he presented in the exhibition “El Maíz de nuestro sustento” (The Corn of our Livelihood) at the Galería Juan Martin in Mexico City;
His portfolio “Nayari-Cora” has been published in 2015 and was presented and exhibited from April to July at the Galería de Arte Contemporáneo del Museo Nacional de la Revolución in Mexico City;
In February 2016 he presented his work named “Zapata vive y la lucha sigue y sigue …” (Zapata lives and the struggle goes on and on…) at the cultural space Aquí estuvo Zapata y Produccciones Hass, Cuernavaca;
In July 2017 his work “Symbología de la Forma” (Symbology of the Form) was presented at the Galería Juan Martín in Mexico City, leading to a publication with the same title published in 2021 by Artes de México;
The same publishing house edited the book titled “De Gigantas y otras Quimeras” (About Giants and other Chimeras) which was presented at the Museo del Estanquillo in Mexico City in May 2018;
In October 2021 the exhibition of portrait photographs “Fisonomías/Fotografías” (Physiognomies/Photographs) was shown at the Museo del Pueblo de Guanajuato as part of the 49th International Cervantino Festival;
Some of the most recent events took place in November 2022 were his photos have been included in the international fair Paris Photo, and in March 2023 at the AIPAD Photography Show in New York;
Between May and August 2023 his photo series “Tintes naturales de Oaxaca” (Natural Dyes from Oaxaca) have been shown at El Museo Latino in Omaha, Nebraska;
As part of Foto España a retrospective of his work has been exhibited from July to September 2024 at Fundación Casa de México en España in Madrid in the show Dura menos la eternidad (Eternity lasts less).
Rafael Doníz’ broad scope of work has allowed him to travel all over Mexico to work on very different projects, thus allowing him to develop a great versatility in his work. He has collaborated in magazines such as Arqueología Mexicana, México Desconocido, National Geographic, Revista de la Universidad de México and Tips de Aeroméxico. Topics such as ecology, ethnography, and social issues in the field of drug addiction among others, have culminated in splendid editions. He has participated in more than one hundred editorial projects on topics such as archeology, architecture, novohispanic, modern and contemporary art, published in Mexico by Artes de México, Editorial RM, Fomento Cultural Banamex and Landucci Editores, as well as in the United States and Europe. Among the international publishers with which he has collaborated are Benedikt Taschen, Koenemann, Prestel, Schirmer/Mosel and Verlag Neue Kritik in Germany; Editorial Artika/Grupo Planeta and Turner Libros in Spain; Les Editions Didier in France; Thames and Hudson in England; Franco Maria Ricci, Mondadori and Rizzoli in Italy; and Tara Books in India.
For his photographic career he has been distinguished in September 2016 with the Medal of Photographic Merit by the Ministry of Culture (SEP) through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), SINAFO, at the Photographic Archives Fototeca de Pachuca.
