First Self Portrait, 2011
Guadalajara Jalisco, México.
Biography
Jimena Horta Ballesteros is a Mexican-Caribbean visual artist, photographer, educator, and storyteller whose practice explores the crossing of emotional memory, everyday life, embodiment, and kinship. Born in Cancún and raised on the island of Cozumel, Mexico, her work is deeply informed by the landscapes, traditions, and lived experiences of the Caribbean and Latin America.
Working primarily through photography, Horta approaches image-making as a contemplative practice of attention. Her photographs move between documentary observation and emotional evocation, exploring how ordinary moments, gestures, and environments can reveal larger questions of identity, memory, human connection, and place. Influenced by Latin American traditions of poetic documentary and decolonial perspectives, she is interested in forms of knowledge rooted in lived experience, emotional resonance, and the often-overlooked details of daily life.
With over fifteen years of experience in photography, her background includes studies in Communication and Filmmaking, a Master's degree in Photography and Artistic Projects, and further training in Photojournalism, Visual Arts, and Documentary Practices. Alongside her photographic work, she engages in teaching, writing, and interdisciplinary projects that connect visual storytelling with cultural exchange, music, and material culture.
Across mediums, her practice is guided by a commitment to attentive presence and the belief that the personal can serve as a bridge toward collective recognition. Through images and stories, she invites viewers to slow down, contemplate, and rediscover the subtle forms of beauty, memory, and meaning embedded in everyday life.
Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Mexico and internationally, including presentations in photography festivals, contemporary art spaces, and cultural institutions. She has also shared her practice through interdisciplinary programs, artist talks, and educational projects that engage with visual storytelling, poetic documentary, and decolonial approaches to image-making. These contexts have supported an ongoing dialogue around her work on attention, emotional perception, and everyday life as a site of cultural memory and meaning-making.
Alongside her photographic work, she engages in a relational practice that weaves together storytelling, teaching, music, and cultural exchange.
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)