marisol mendez is a photographer and researcher from Cochabamba, Bolivia, whose practice examines the tension between truth and fiction, between what a photograph constructs and the (sur)real it draws from. Through research-led projects, she weaves nuanced narratives that unsettle inherited visual histories and open them to multiple readings.
Moving across documentary and staged forms, Mendez traces relations between lived experience, collective memory, and myth. Her practice is rooted in both research and encounter, shifting between the real and the imagined, where memory behaves like fiction and fiction takes on the weight of memory. Ultimately, her work invites viewers to question the stories images tell and the systems of belief they sustain.
Prints with Open Doors Gallery
public collections
The Kunstmuseum Den Haag San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Getty Museum
selected awards
Saltzman-Leibovitz Photography Prize 2026 nominated by Emma Bowkett (US) Future’s Artist 2026 nominated by Elisa Medde and Foto Colectania (ES) Lucie Scholarship Program 2024 Fine Art: Professional (US) PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant (IT) Foam Talent 2024-25 (NL) Sony World Photography Awards 2023: Professional competition, environment category (UK) PhMuseum 2021 Photography Grant New Generation Prize (IT) Photolucida’s 2020 Michael Reichmann Project Grant (US)
selected exhibitions
2026 Photo London, Saltzman-Leibovitz Photography Prize, National Hall Olympia, London, United Kingdom Belfast Photo Festival, Botanic Gardens, Belfast, United Kingdom Art Nou, Hangar, Barcelona, Spain International Festival of Contemporary Photography Kranj Foto Fest, Kranj, Slovenia Photaumnales, Parc de la Gare à Beauvais, Beauvais, France
2025 ‘Relayer: D’ici 60 ans’ curated by Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez & Ana Janevski, Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France PhotoVogue Festival: ‘A Love Letter to Nature’ BASE Milano, Milan, Italy Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane: ‘Florestiana’ curated by Ioana Mello, CIAP, Transportation Camp, French Guiana Bronx Documentary Center: ‘Foto Féminas: 10th Anniversary’ curated by Verónica Sanchis, New York, United States Rencontres d’Arles Festival: ‘Night of the Year’, Ancien Collège Mistral, Arles, France Verzasca Foto Festival: ‘Bodies of Water’, Verzasca, Switzerland ‘Il Corpo che Abito: MADRE’ curated by Irene Alison & Pablo Cagnacci, Rifugio Digitale, Florence, Italy
2024 Foam Talent, Foam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Lucie Scholarship Program Winners Exhibition, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, United States Unseen, Kers Gallery, Westergas Amsterdam Klönneplein 1, Amsterdam, the Netherlands ‘Come Nessun Uomo Saprà Mai’ curated by Steve Bisson, Lab27, Treviso, Italy Revela’t Festival: ‘Fotolibros e Identidad’ curated by Mireia Alises, Vilassar de Dalt, Barcelona, Spain Imaginária: ‘vim ao deserto para falar meu nome e criar meu espelho’ curated by Ana Paula Vitorio & Masina Pinheiro, Edifício Vera, São Paulo, Brasil
2023 Sharjah Biennial 15: ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’ curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, Somerset House, London, United Kingdom Encontros da Imagem International: ‘Essay for the Future’, Braga, Portugal ‘Novias’ curated by Balam & Valerie Factory, Barrakesh, Buenos Aires, Argentina Royal Photographic Society: ‘IPE 164’, The Royal Photographic Society House, Bristol, United Kingdom
2022 Getxophoto: ‘Imaginar’ curated by Jon Uriarte, Getxo, Basque Country Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece ‘Dangerous Bodies’ curated by Marina Paulenka, Kers Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands The British Journal of Photography: ‘Female in Focus’, Photofusion, London, United Kingdom Bird in Flight Prize ‘21, Klaipėda Culture Communication Center, Klaipėda, Lithuania The British Journal of Photography & Wateraid: ‘Look Climate Lab 2022’ with Monty Kaplan, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
2021 PhMuseum Days: ‘A New Beginning’, Binario Centrale, DumBO, Bologna, Italy FORMAT Festival: ‘Control’, Derby, United Kingdom The British Journal of Photography: ‘International Photography Awards’, Seen Fifteen Gallery, London, United Kingdom
selected interviews & press
2026 The Guardian by Amy Fleming La Repubblica by Irene Alison
2025. The Independent Photographer by Rosie Torres PhMuseum by Lucia de Stefani PhotoVogue by Caterina de Biasio
2024 Die Zeit by Lara Huck Fisheye by Ana Corderot Dispatches by Arturo Soto Collector Daily by Loring Knoblauch Wallpaper by Sofia de la Cruz C41 by Ilaria Sponda
2023 i-D by Miss Rosen AnOther Magazine by Flossie Skelton Photobookstore by Aaron Schuman
2022 LensCulture by Sophie Wright The British Journal of Photography by Hannah Abel-Hirsh
2021 The British Journal of Photography by Izabela Radwanska Zhang Vist Projects by Julia Muriel Dominzain PhMuseum by Verónica Sanchis
selected publications
2025 [COVER] Creatura, Issue 1 (FR) Exit #97 (ES) Hometown Journal #4: ‘The Way Home’ (DE) Femgrafía & miau ediciones, Index: Liberando el Archivo (MX)
2024 Foam, Foam Magazine #65 Talent (NL) Balam, La Bohemia, Issue 10 (AR) Urbanautica, Urbanautica Awards Catalog 2023 (IT) Fotofilmic, JRNL 21, Summer issue (CA) [COVER] Revista Morel #11, Autumn Issue (BR)
2023 World Photography Organisation, Sony World Photography Awards Book (UK) GUP, Fresh Eyes International (NL) Balam & Pommegranate Press, Playfulness (US) Tall Poppy Press, Site Specific: Photography Exhibitions from around the World (AU) Zone Magazine, The Big Rot (IT)
2022 The British Journal of Photography, Portrait of Humanity Book Vol.4 (UK) Women Photograph, 2021 Women Photograph Annual (US)
2021 [COVER] The British Journal of Photography, Then & Now, February Issue (UK) [COVER] FotoFilmic, JRNL 7, Winter Issue (CA)
residencies
Académie des Beaux-arts x Cité Internationale des Arts residency programme, Paris, France