Enrique Metinides

He published his first photo in a newspaper when he was twelve and, at age thirteen, became an unpaid assistant at La Prensa. His career as a crime photographer continued until 1997 when he retired, but since then his work has gained appreciation on its own merits, being exhibited in galleries and other venues in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.

• Name — Enrique Metinides • Birth Name — Jaralambos Enrique Metinides Tsironides • Born — 12 February 1934 • Birthplace — Mexico City, Mexico • Died — 10 May 2022 • Place of death — Mexico City, Mexico • Known for — Street photography of crime scenes or emergencies • Occupation — Photographer

Metinides was born in Mexico City and was of Greek heritage. When he was ten years old, his father gave him a brownie box camera. Soon after, he began taking pictures of car accidents on the streets of the San Cosme neighborhood of Mexico City where he lived. He expanded this to opportunities found hanging around the police station, going to the morgue and becoming a Red Cross volunteer to ride with ambulances. He photographed his first dead body and published his first photograph when he was only twelve years old. At age thirteen, he became an unpaid assistant to the crime photographer at La Prensa, and gained the nickname El Niño ("the boy") from the regular press photographers.

Metinides worked as a crime photographer from 1948 to his forced retirement in 1997, taking thousands of images and following hundreds of stories in and around Mexico City such as crime scenes, car crashes, and natural catastrophes. His work was principally published in the nota roja" (literally "red news" because of bloody images), sections and event whole journals characterized by crude text and sensationalist photography dealing with violence and death. Sometime after his retirement, his work began to be appreciated on its own merit and artistic value, being exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.

He retired in 1997 after being let go by La Prensa and no longer took photos of live crime or disaster scenes. However he had a collection of more than 4,000 miniature ambulances, fire trucks, and figures of firemen and medics, which he has photographed in arrangements depicting emergency scenes. He also had a large collection of plastic frogs. Until his death, he continued to reside in Mexico City.

From 2011 to 2013, a collection of 101 photographs selected by the photographer and curator Trisha Ziff toured Europe and the Americas under the name of the "101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides". The photos have also been published as a book with the same title, with extended captions and a biography of Metinides. Other photos and works by the photographer have been the focus of individual exhibits at locations such as the Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2008), the Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2006), Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2006), Club Fotográfico de México, Mexico City (2005), Kunsthal, Rotterdam (2004), The Photographer's Gallery, London (2003), Air de Paris, Paris (2003), the Royal College, London (2002, 2003), and the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte UNAM, Mexico City (2000). Group exhibitions which incorporated his work include those at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto (2012), SFMOMA, San Francisco (2012), Kominek Gallery, Berlin (2012), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008), NRW Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf (2006), Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2004), Casa de América, Madrid (2004), Central de Arte Guadalajara, Guadalajara (2004), Galerie Cantal Crousel, Paris (2002), Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2002), PS1, New York (2002)), and Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City (2002).

Enrique Metinides is recorded with the occupation photographer. Recorded as photographer and journalist.