I am Juana Pola (Tehuantepec, 1994). My photographic practice is an autobiographical and documentary exercise born from the need to question the environment I inhabit and the territory that situates me. Through my work, I reflect on family, the body, motherhood, gender, and neurodivergence.
My lens is a tool of registration and resistance. I investigate cultural identity and human rights, always seeking to capture the cracks of the everyday to convert them into profound visual narratives. For me, photography is not just an image; it is a constant bond with the stories that shape us.
Artistic Journey
My training has been constant in key spaces for photography in Mexico, such as the Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center (CFMAB), the San Agustín Arts Center (CaSa), and the Image Center (Centro de la Imagen). My work has been exhibited in both solo and collective shows in Mexico, the United States, Chile, and Paraguay.
Awards and Recognitions
- Winner: 2025 FOCCO Prize, Editorial Laboratory Residency for the production of photobooks with the project Guchachi’ Reza (Coquimbo, Chile).
- Grant Recipient: Young Creators Program of the System for Support for Creation and Cultural Projects (2023-2024).
- Selected: Portfolio review by Antoine D’Agata, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center (2023).
- Winner: Second Place in the National Photography Contest: INMUJERES (2022), category: “Empowerment of Girls.”
Solo Exhibitions
- CA GUNAA’ WOMEN, Mexican Career Consulate in New Brunswick, USA (July-October 2025).
- Xpiaani, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center, Oaxaca de Juárez (October 2023).
Colective Exhibitions
- DISPUTING THE GAZE, visual imaginaries of indigenous women, National Museum of Art (MUNAL), CDMX (December 2025).
- The Wild Eye, IX EOS Festival, Paraguay (November 2025).
- FOCCO 2025 Exhibition Display, Los Vilos Cultural Center, Chile (August 2025).
- Discourse without fear, Museum of Photography Archive (MAF), CDMX (June 2025).
- GLANCES AT THE LANDSCAPE: narratives of identity, memory, and environment, Binary Art Gallery, CENART, CDMX (April-May 2025).
- Art in Motion, 2024 National Creators Forum, Casa Miguel Alemán, Los Pinos Cultural Complex, CDMX (December 2024 - February 2025).
- Searching for the Author, House of Culture of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca (December 2024).
- The Gray Hour. Interactions and transformation of the image in Oaxaca, International Cervantino Festival, People’s Museum, Guanajuato (October 2024 - February 2025).
- Tehuantepec at Los Pinos, Los Pinos Cultural Complex, CDMX (September 2024).
- Locating ourselves. Women Photographers in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, UNISTMO (Tehuantepec and Ixtepec Campus, 2023).
- Women in Art, La Salle University Oaxaca / Casa Guietiqui, Tehuantepec (2023).
- Photographic exhibition-sale, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center, Oaxaca (2022).
- Corpus Christi Ikoots, FOTOSEPTIEMBRE, Image Center / Marist High School, San Mateo del Mar, Tehuantepec (2022).
- Rewriting (ourselves), Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Puebla Campus (2022).
- Guiengola: nature and culture (Territorial Management), 4th National Meeting of Cultural Management, Shinzaburo Takeda Gallery UABJO, Oaxaca (2020).
Academic Background
- Bachelor’s Degree in Artistic Expression and Production, UBBJ - Ixtepec Campus, Oaxaca (2019-2022).
- Editorial Laboratory Residency for photobook production, FOCCO 2025, taught by Clara Forero, Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo, and Victor Galeano (Chile).
- Portfolio review: Correspondences, taught by Koral Carballo and Diana Cano, Image Center (2025).
- Masterclass: Visual Narrative, with Kateryna Radchenko, San Agustín Arts Center (2024).
- Workshop: Death to the real!, with Pablo Martínez Zárate, San Agustín Arts Center (2024).
- Masterclass: Follow your intuition, with Newsha Tavakolian (Magnum Photos), San Agustín Arts Center (2024).
- Workshop: Searching for the author, by Nelson Morales, Juchitán de Zaragoza (2024).
- Advisory and curation of ‘Xpiaani’, by Karina Juárez, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center (2023).
- Online Workshop: ‘Selfies’ An encounter with myself, by Hugo Cartas (2023).
- Photographic Projects Clinic, taught by Dolores Medel, Image Center (2023).
- Workshop: Re-volve (Photographic projects), by Karina Juárez, San Agustín Arts Center (2023).
- Workshop: Documentary portrait practice, by Eva Lépiz, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center (2023).
- Docufiction Workshop for Photo and Video, by Talía Montiel Zacarías, Ixtepec (2022).
- Workshop: Portrait analysis and creation, by Eva Lépiz, San Agustín Arts Center (2022).
- Workshop: Self-portrait as support, by Edith Morales, Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographic Center (2022).
- Film appreciation course, Cineclub El Tragaluz (2021).
- Photojournalism workshop, by Germán Canseco, Mexico Photographic Meeting (2021).
- Online Workshop: Self-portrait as empowerment, by Enid Valdivia (2021).
- Experimental Community Film Laboratory (LECC), organized by Xquipi’, Itinerant Audiovisual Camp (2019).
My work is an archive in progress. If you would like to know more about my artistic statement or potential collaborations, I invite you to follow my visual archive on Instagram: @juana_pola_