Yael Martínez
Born in Guerrero in 1984, Yael Martínez creates work that addresses fractured communities in his native Mexico. He often works symbolically to evoke a sense of the emptiness, absence and pain suffered by those affected by the state and organized crime.
Martínez has earned a number of honors for his photography, including the 2022 Wayfinder Award from The National Geographic society, membership in Mexico’s National System of Arts Creators (SNCA), and the 2019 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant. Martínez won The World Press Photo in the region of North and Central America in the Open Format category in 2022 and second prize in the World Press Photo contest in the Long-Term Projects category in 2019. He is a fellow of the Photography and Social Justice Program of The Magnum Foundation.
Martínez’s work has been featured in solo and group shows in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States. In addition to National Geographic, his work has been widely published in Aperture, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, Vogue Italy, Bloomberg News and Vrij Nederland.
Martínez joined Magnum Photos in 2020 as a nominee, as an associate member in 2022, and as a full member in 2024.
