Griselda San Martin is a Spanish documentary photographer currently based in New York City. She is a graduate of the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and holds a Masters in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder.
San Martin has documented the U.S.-Mexico border, focusing on the issues of immigration, deportation, inequality and human rights abuses through an optic of identity and belonging.
Her current focus is on the growing Hispanic community in the United States and the sociopolitical implications of reactionary narratives depicting immigrants and ethnic minorities. Her work explores the transnational life and practices that link individuals, families and social networks across political boundaries.
San Martin’s work challenges popular assumptions about immigrants and offers an alternative perspective―a marginalized community demonstrating resilience and resourcefulness amidst trying situations.
Her photography and video projects have been exhibited internationally and featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, and California Sunday Magazine as well as other publications.
EDUCATION
International Center of Photography. New York, NY
Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program
The University of Colorado Boulder. Boulder, Colorado
School of Journalism and Mass Communication - M.A. in Journalism
ESADE Business School. Barcelona, Spain
Bachelor in Business Administration & MBA
EXHIBITIONS
2022 - "Pained Vistas" Exhibition at Photographic Center Northwest. Seattle, WA.
2022 - "Role Play" Exhibition at Prada Aoyama. Tokyo, Japan.
2021 - "I Hear America Singing I Contemporary Photography from America” Exhibition at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. Amman, Jordan.
2021 - "Queens is Family” Exhibition at Photoville. New York, NY
2020 - "Faces Change | Immigrant Prejudice Remains” Exhibition at NYU Kimmel Windows Gallery, New York, NY.
2021 - "Los Otros Lados: Imágenes de la Migración en México" Exhibition at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Fundación Femsa). Monterrey, Mexico
2020/2021 - "Lessons of the Hour" Exhibition at The McEvoy Foundation for the Arts. San Franciso, Ca.
2020 - "El Otro Lado" Exhibition at Cosmopolis. Nantes, France.
2020 - Eyes On Main Street Photo Festival. Wilson, NC. 2020 - "El Otro Lado" Exhibition at Cosmopolis. Nantes, France.
2020 - "Trump Revolution: Immigration" Exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center. Bronx, NY.
2020 - "Life Interrupted" Exhibition at Plaxall Gallery. Long Island City, New York
2020 - "LOST Carmel" Exhibition at the Center for Photographic Art. Carmel, California
2019 - "No Hay Agua" Exhibition. Bogota, Colombia.
2019 - "El Norte" Exhibition at Casa Lol Be CEPHCIS UNAM. (V Festival Internacional de Cine y Video Kayche Tejidos Visuales.) Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
2019 - “La Frontera de Cristal” at Colorado Photographic Arts Center. Denver, Colorado
2019 -"If You See Something, Say Something" exhibit. Newburgh, NY
2019 - "Typecast" at Photoville NYC. Brooklyn, NY
2019 - "Typecast" at Photoville L.A. at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Los Angeles, California
2019 - “The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement” at The Phillips Collection. Washington D.C.
2019 - “Insider/Outsider” Women Photograph exhibit at Click DC Photo Festival. Washington, D.C.
2019 - "Women Photographers Today" (Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Exhibition) Barcelona, Spain
2018 - “The Wall” SOLO Exhibition at Photoville 2018 in Brooklyn, NY.2018 - “The Wall” Public Art SOLO Exhibition on Washington Street (Dumbo) produced by UPI in partnership with NYC Parks. Brooklyn, NY.
2018 - "When Does a Place Become Home?" St. Anns Wharehouse. Brooklyn, NY2018 - “Landed” Darkroom Detroit. Detroit, MI
2018 - “El Norte” at Centro Cultural La Cúpula. Mérida, Mexico.
2018 - “cit.i.zen.ship: reflections on rights” at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. New York, NY
2018 - Colectivo Liminal group exhibition. Durham, NC
2018 - "The Fence 2018" traveling exhibit. Brooklyn, Denver, Santa Fe, Boston, Atlanta, Durham, Sarasota, Calgary.
2018 - "Disruption" Center for Photography at Woodstock. Woodstock, NY
2018 - "Outsiders. Of Migrants, Refugees and Exiled" Amparo Museum. Puebla, Mexico2018 - “Insider/Outsider” Women Photograph exhibit at Instagram. New York, NY2018 - "Borders and Belonging" Haverford College. Haverford, PA
2018 - "15 Stories of Hope, Change and Justice" Johns Hopkins SAIS. Washington. D.C.
2018 - "Uncertain Times" The University of the Arts. Philadelphia, PA2017/2018 - “Mexico Migrante: Raices de Puebla” SOLO Exhibition at Regional Museum of Cholula. Puebla, Mexico.
2017 - "Behind the Portrait" Gulf Photo Plus. Dubai, UAE.
2017 - “Invisible and Resistance” Casa del Tunel Art Center. Tijuana, Mexico
2017 - “Insider/Outsider” Women Photograph exhibit at Photoville. New York, NY
2017 - "Disruption" at LIC Arts Open in Long Island City, NY
2017 - "Future Isms" at Glass Box gallery in Seattle, WA
2017 - Lo Mejor de Baja" in Tijuana, Mexico
2016 - "Future Isms" Humble Arts Foundation.
2016 - "Elsewhere is a Negative Mirror" New York Photography Diary. London, UK
2016 - "Territory//Space" Odessa//Batumi Photo Days 2016. Batumi, Georgia
2015 - “Tipping Point” International Center of Photography. New York, NY
AWARDS, GRANTS AND RECOGNITIONS
2020 - Speaker at Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC) Philadelphia, PA.
2020 - Speaker at Spring 2020 Digital Photography i3 Lecture Series at SVA (School of Visual Arts.) New York, NY.
2020- Judge at NPPA's Northern Short Course Photo Contest. New York, NY.2019 - Fotoevidence "Prints For Books” auction
2019 - CatchLight’s “Democracy in Focus” print sale2018 - Winner of the Documentary and Reportage Category at the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers
2018 - Speaker at “Picturing Immigration in Germany and the U.S.” at Brandeis University. Waltham, MA
2018 - Selected Winner at Latin American Fotografia 7
2018 - Speaker at Transporting Roots presentation and panel discussion. Brooklyn, NY
2018 - Recipient of The Fence 2018 Juror's Choice Award and Grant2018 - Speaker at Focus on the Story International Photography Festival. Washington, D.C.
2017 - Selected for Women Photograph Workshop at Photoville. New York, NY
2017 - Nominee for the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Award of Ibero-American Journalism (Premio Gabo.) Bogota, Colombia
2017 - Winner Best Single Image at Renaissance Photography Prize 2017. London, UK
2017 - Selected Winner at Latin American Fotografia 6
2017 - Selected for #Bornthesame tour by Slideluck Editorial
2017 - Shortlisted for Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award. Tbilisi, Georgia
2017 - Selected for New York Times Portfolio Review. New York, NY
2017 - Selected Winner, American Photography 33
2016 - Finalist New Horizons Photo Competition- Theme: Contemporary experiences of migration. Oxford, UK
2016 - Finalist at the 9th Pollux Awards
2016 - Honorable Mentions at the ND Photography Awards
2016 - Selected for Eddie Adams Workshop XXIX
2016 - Winner Howard Chapnick Award at Missouri Photo workshop 68.
2016 - Selected Winner at Latin American Fotografia 5
2016 - Honorable Mention at Prix de la Photographie Paris, France
2016 - Selected for VII Photo Agency Visual Storytelling workshop. Barcelona, Spain
2015 - Recipient of ICP George and Joyce Moss Scholarship. New York, NY
2015 - Speaker at International Festival of Photography Tijuana. Tijuana, Mexico
2014 -Speaker at Deported Veterans. Soldiers Without a Nation Conference. Colegio de la Frontera Norte COLEF. Tijuana, Mexico
2014 -Winner Second place Gender and Justice competition held by the Supreme Court of Mexico & United Nations Women
2013 - Recipient of University of Colorado Beverly Sears grant
2012 - Member of National Journalism Honor Society (Kappa Tau Alpha)
PUBLICATIONS
The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New York Times en Español, The New Republic, California Sunday Magazine, Sleek Magazine, FotoEvidence, Capture Magazine, PDN Magazine, Huffington Post, Artspace, Playground Do., Revista 5W, Dodho Magazine, Animal Politico, Hiraeth Magazine, IODO, Global Voices, Capricious Magazine, Migramundo.
Instagram Takeovers: Blink, Open Society Foundations (OSF)
TEACHING
2018 - Mentor at The New York Times’ “This is 18” project.2017 - “Photography as a Tool for Change” workshop, Acatlan, Mexico
2017 - “Photography as a Tool for Change” workshop, Puebla, Mexico
2017 - Teaching Assistant for Ashley Gilbertson and Ed Kashi, “Narrative Photography” workshop, VII, New York, NY
2017 - Teaching Assistant for Joao Pina, “Photographing The Invisible.” International Center of Photography, New York, NY
RADIO AND PODCAST
2017 - “La Frontera” Radio Canada International
2017 - "Mexico and Trump's Wall" Revista 5W Podcast
2017 - "Taking the Long View, Social Documentary Projects" B&H Photography Podcast
SELECTED FILM FESTIVALS
2019 - Slideluck Montevideo. Montevideo, Uruguay (Born the Same Tour)
2019 - Il Festival della Cooperazione Internazionale. Puglia, Italy. (Born the Same Tour)
2018 - Legacy Film Festival on Aging - San Francisco, CA
2018 - 8th Signs of Change Film Festival -United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY
2018 - Censurados Film Festival - "Invisible Walls" - (Travelling) - Lima, Peru; Guatemala/Mexico border; Tijuana, Mexico; San Diego, CA; Mexico City, Mexico.
2018 - Queens World Film Festival - Queens, NY (Winner Best Short Documentary Director)
2017 - Just Another Photo Festival - Kolkata, India (Born The Same Tour)
2017 - Doccy Mc Doc Fest - Bradford, UK
2017 - FoLa - Buenos Aires, Argentina (Born The Same Tour)
2017 - Festival Miradas Fronterizas - Tijuana, Mexico
2017 - Huatulco Film Festival - Oaxaca, Mexico
2017 - Norwich Film Festival - Norwich, UK
2017 - Festival de Cine y Derechos Humanos de Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain
2017 - VERZIO International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival -Budapest, Hungary
2017 - Napa Valley Film Festival - Napa Valley, CA
2017 - Diaspora Film Festival - Toronto, Canada
2017 - Santa Fe Independent Film Festival - Santa Fe, NM
2017 - United Nations Association Film Festival - San Francisco, CA
2017 - FotoMatch - Bari, Italy (Born The Same Tour)
2017 - Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival- Hot Springs, AR
2017 - 15 Short Film Festival - Charlotte, NC
2017 - Official Latino Short Film Festival - New York, NY
2017 - BDC’s Women Film Series (at Bronx Documentary Center) - New York, NY
2017 - Edmonton International Film Festival - Edmonton, Canada
2017 - Film Score and The Scruffy City Film & Music Festival - Knoxville, TN (Winner Best Documentary Short )
2017 - La Nuit de L'Annee - Arles, France (Born The Same Tour)
2017 - Macon Film Festival - Macon, GA
2017 - South Bay Film & Music Festival - Hermosa Beach, CA
2017 - Lighthouse International Film Festival - Long Beach Island, NJ
2017 - San Francisco Documentary Film Festival - San Francisco, CA
2017 - Brooklyn Film Festival - Brooklyn, NY
2017 - Ridgefield Independent Film Festival - Ridgefield, CT (Winner Best Documentary Short Award)
2017 - Literally Short Film Festival - Houston, TX (Finalist)
2017 - Harlem International Film Festival - New York, NY
2017 - Florida Film Festival - Maitland, FL
2017 - Arizona International Film Festival - Tucson, AZ
2017 - Columbus International Film and Video Festival - Columbus, OH
2017 - American Documentary Film Festival and Fund - Palm Springs, CA
2016 - Bronx Documentary Center Open Show 21 - Bronx, NY
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