First Self Portrait, 2011
Guadalajara Jalisco, México.
Biography
Jimena Horta Ballesteros is a Mexican-Caribbean artist working between documentary observation, poetic visual storytelling, and emotional abstraction. Through autobiographical and introspective approaches, her practice explores memory, embodiment, identity, and lived experience, shaped by vulnerability, cultural hybridity, and decolonial perspectives.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Filmmaking from Universidad Anáhuac and a Master’s in Photography and Artistic Projects from PhotoEspaña. She is also an alumna of Foundry Photojournalism Workshops, where she studied under Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Guggenheim Fellow Maggie Steber, Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Robinson Chávez, and Guggenheim Fellow Sara Terry.
In 2021, her project SÍIHIL was selected for the Foundry International Photojournalism Program as one of six photographers across Latin America and Spain. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in Mexico, Spain, the United States, and Chile, and is part of private collections across Mexico, Spain, Chile, the United States, and Canada.
Rooted in Latin American traditions of poetic documentary, her work moves between observation, symbolism, ambiguity, and emotional perception, transforming fragments of everyday life into layered reflections on memory, perception, and belonging. Rather than approaching photography as objective documentation, she understands the medium as a relational and emotional language through which personal experience can expand toward collective meaning.
2025: De-colonial and Ancestral Wisdom: Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza (Psych PhD) - (Online)
2024: Specialization in Therapeutic and Participatory Photography: Instituto 8 - (Online)
2023: Grant Writing Workshop with Sara Terry: VII Academy - (Online)
2022: Sem[a]nario de Fotografía: Alberto Báez Munguía - (Online)
2022: Horizontes Poéticos: La Hoja Poesía Viva - (Online)
2021: Photojournalism Workshop: Foundry - (Online)
2020: Photographic and Writing Lab: Artist Elizabeth Casasola - (Online)
2020: Creative Writing Workshop: Malvestida! - (Online)
2019: Specialization in Photography, Theories and Artistic Projects: PhotoEspaña - (Madrid, Spain)
2018: Professional Photography Course: EFTI - (Madrid, Spain)
2017: Photojournalism Workshop: Foundry - (Mexico City)
2017: Specialization in Filmmaking: Universidad Anáhuac México Norte - (Mexico City)
2017: Bachelors Degree in Communication: Universidad Anáhuac Mayab - (Mérida, Yucatán, MX)
2016: Heart of Mexico Narrative Journalism Immersion: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM)
& University of North Texas (UNT) - (Izamal, Yucatán, MX)
2012: Visual Arts: Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG) - (Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX)
Group Exhibitions
2025: Kili’ich Chuuyo’ob | Bordado Maya Ritual (Mérida, Yucatán, México)
2023: Leila's Dirty 30 POPUP (Cleveland, Ohio)
2020: Revelaciones (Santiago, Chile)
2020: Encuentros en Tiempo Presente (Madrid, Spain)
2019: Simbiosis (Mexico City)
2018: Hypermnesia (Mexico City)
2017: X’manikté (Mérida, MX)
2014: Paradojas (Mérida, MX)
2013: Fantasmas Urbanos (Mérida, MX)
Solo Exhibitions
2024: SÍIHIL (Mexico City, MX)
2023: SÍIHIL (Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH)
2023: SÍIHIL (Cleveland Print Room, Cleveland, OH)
2021: SÍIHIL (Museo de la Isla, Cozumel, MX)
2016: Cuba: El Último Encuentro (Universidad Anáhuac México Norte, Mexico City)