Yolanda Andrade

• Name — Yolanda Andrade • Born — 22 May 1950 • Birthplace — Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico • Occupation — * Photographer • author • activist • Website — https: yolandaandrade.viewbook.com/

In 1968, Yolanda and her family moved to Mexico City, where she currently resides. Yolanda Andrade attended the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York from 1976 to 1977. She began working as a photographer since 1977. During these years she worked as a photography professor at the Centro de la Imagen, Tecnologico de Monterrey, and the Escuela de Fotografia Nacho Lopez. While living in Rochester, she received the Guggenheim fellowship to create a photographic project about Mexico City, which would later be known as the Mexican Passion. This same year she began working as a still photographer for a Mexican film production company. Later on, she worked as an independent photographer for different types of magazines. Since she started working freelance, there was a moment where she began teaching the art of still photography at different schools to help her financial with the various projects she was looking into. The first couple of years as an independent photographer she spent her time specializing in black and white still photography. Then in 2003 she began exploring digital and color photography. The main focus of her work was to capture the relationship between the people and the city. Along with other grants that she earned, it helped her fund her collections among many different countries such as Mexico, United States, and Europe. With a shift in photography came a shift in the themes that she was capturing. Her black and white photos targeted more people while color photographs displayed more symbolic objects.

Andrade is most known for capturing what she describes as the "Mexican Passion", images that show the everyday life and culture of the people from Mexico: people mixing in celebration, tradition, and protest. For the majority of her time as a photographer, Andrade captured the "carnivalesque" world of Mexico City. She highlighted the cross between modernization, history, faith, and tradition which was the start of Mexico's culture. In her book titled Mexican Passion, some of the photographs being taken were of the hipster scene of the youth. She showcased the various protests that took place such as the LGBTQ parade in Mexico City to illustrate the modernization of the city that is moving towards a progressive era. The pictures taken do not show resistance, but rather pride and joy in each of the individual's faces. Along with being a photographer, Yolanda is also an author of visual books showcasing her collection. She participates in various discussions and conferences about Latin American photography. She is a member of an art association called the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte del FONCA (National System of Art Creators) whose aim is to showcase artists in order to express national identity and appreciation of Mexico. This is part of her activism work, in which she uses the photographs taken as a form of calling out the oppression done towards a group of people. Through her work, highlights how different groups of people come together as a united front but captured in a sense of celebration of identity.

The majority of Andrade's work is exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe. She has more than twenty-five solo shows that display her photographs. Her work is exhibited in various locations. The locations are listed below. Collection locations • Visual Studies Workshop (Rochester, NY) • California Museum of Photography (Riverside, CA) • Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX) • Southwestern and Mexican Photography Collection (Texas State University- San Marcos) • Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (Japan) • National Institute of Fine Arts (Mexico, D.F) • Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou, China) • Museum of Modern Art, INBA (Mexico City) • J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA) • Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA) • El Barrio Museum (New York, NY) • Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL)

• Guggenheim Fellowship (1994), received for her photography project of Mexico City. • Cultural Projects and Co-Investments Program of the FONCA (2000), received for the co-publication of the book Mexican Passion • National Endowment for Culture and the Arts (1993, 1997, 2000, 2003)