Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (born December 23, 1968) is a

stateside Puerto Rican Stateside Puerto Ricans ( es, link=no, Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos), also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans ( es, link=no, puertorriqueño-americanos,), or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

. He is best known for his social

documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

of people's living conditions in less developed nations. Rivera-Ortiz lives in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

and in Zurich.

Life and work

Rivera-Ortiz was born into a poor family in the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

of Pozo Hondo, outside

Guayama Guayama (, ), officially the Autonomous Municipality of Guayama ( es, Municipio Autónomo de Guayama) is a city and municipality on the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 36,614. It is the c ...

on the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

coast of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, the eldest of ten children (including four half-siblings and two stepsisters). He grew up in a corrugated tin shack with dirt floors without running water. His father hand-chopped sugar cane in the fields of Central Machete and Central Aguirre in the declining days of the Puerto Rican sugar industry, and, following the

Zafra Zafra () is a town situated in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677, according to the 2011 census. Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, author ...

or sugar-harvesting season, labored as a migrant farmworker in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and the Mid-Atlantic states. MRO Cuba Harvest 01

When Rivera-Ortiz was 11 years old, his parents separated and his father moved with the children to the USA mainland in

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The separation from his mother, whom he has not seen since, had a profound effect on Rivera-Ortiz. He attended classes at Mt. Holyoke and

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

colleges as part of the Massachusetts Migrant Education summer program, where he was offered his first courses in photography and film development. The family later moved to Rochester, New York. After attending

East High School (Rochester, New York) East High School is a public high school serving the sixth through twelfth grade in Rochester, N.Y, and is part of the Rochester City School District, and in partnership with the University of Rochester as the school's Educational Partnership O ...

Rivera-Ortiz worked as a journalist. In 1995 he graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree as an English major from Nazareth College, and in 1998 he received his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

. Following his graduation, he worked as a journalist for newspapers (e.g. ''

Democrat and Chronicle The ''Democrat and Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving the greater Rochester, New York, area. At 245 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, the ''Democrat and Chronicle'' operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production fa ...

'') and magazines (e.g. ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

''), but soon turned to photojournalism and documentary photography. In 2001, he began traveling as a freelance photographer with an emphasis on social issues and has exhibited his work in photographic exhibitions. Bolivia Altiplano 2004

Traveling widely, his photography focuses on humanitarian issues often ignored by mainstream media. His work is included in museum and corporate collections, including George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film,GEH (2006), George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, Annual Report 2006, p. 9
(Rivera-Ortiz work listed as photographic accession in 2006) the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

and the Museum of Fine Arts Berne. In 2004, he received En Foco's New Works Photography Award, and in 2007 the Artist of the Year Award of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester. In 2002, he photographed Cuba, comparing the he found there to the Puerto Rico of his youth. He has exhibited photographs showing the dignity of the

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

("Untouchable") Caste of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and the

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

living in the arid

altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

of Bolivia. He has also photographed people from Kenya to Turkey to Thailand. His work has been featured in the April 2008 issue of Rangefinder magazine. In 2010, Rivera-Ortiz visited

Dharavi Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, considered to be one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most dens ...

and Baiganwadi and took pictures of daily life in these two

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

. In 2011, he documented the

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hun ...

Commemorations in

Shanksville, Pennsylvania Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census. It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located southeast of Pittsburgh and west of Philade ...

for the French photography organization 24h.com. In 2012, the

featured Rivera-Ortiz' work on poverty in the developing world in its collection of ''50 Great Stories'' produced by alumni over the past century. The work of Manuel Rivera-Ortiz demonstrates that social documentary as activism still continues to exist in the modern world. Rivera-Ortiz can be classified as a

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

with his focus on social issues and the hardships of everyday life. MRO Yamuna River Delhi 2005

Publications

Publications by Rivera-Ortiz

*''India - A Celebration of Life'', Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2015. . *''Cuba'', Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2021. .

Publications with others

*''Viajeros: North American Artist / Photographers’ Images of Cuba.'' Bethlehem, PA:

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

Art Galleries, 2005. Catalog of an exhibition held at the Dubois Gallery, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 2 November 2005 - 8 January 2006. "This exhibition consists of 59 artists featured in a multimedia project of over 100 images. It presents photographic essays, videos and single/dual images of Cuba..." *''Voices in First Person.'' New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 2008. Edited by Lori Marie Carlson. . Rivera-Ortiz provides the photographs in what the publisher describes as "A collection of monologues featuring the most respected Latino authors writing today, including Sandra Cisneros, Oscar Hijuelos, and Gary Soto." * ''Percepciones en Blanco & Negro – Colombia.'' Ediciones Adéer Lyinad, 2009. * ''100 Photographs: The Most Influential Images of All Time.'' New York: ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

,'' 2016

Publications edited by Rivera-Ortiz

*''A New Documentary.'' The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film, 2013. .

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

*2004 Weitman Gallery,

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, MO *2004 Link Gallery, City Hall, Rochester, NY *2006 Seventh & Second Photo Gallery, New York, NY *2006/2007 Link Gallery, City Hall, Rochester, NY *2007 El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, Buffalo, NY *2007 Columbia University Joseph Pulitzer Graduate School of Journalism, New York, NY *2007 William Whipple Art Gallery,

Southwest Minnesota State University Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) is a public university in Marshall, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. The university has an enrollment of approximately 8,700 students and employs 148 fa ...

, Marshall, MN *2007 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY *2008

Nuyorican Poets Café The Nuyorican (Puerto Rican New Yorkers) Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip ...

, New York, NY *2008

Swiss Re Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd,
Swiss Re. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ("Swiss Re") ...

, Zurich, Switzerland

Selected group exhibitions

*2003 Credit Suisse, New York, NY *2004 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY *2005 Longwood Art Gallery, New York, NY *2005

Chelsea Art Museum The Chelsea Art Museum (CAM) was a contemporary art museum located at 556 22nd Street (Manhattan), West 22nd Street on the corner of Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan), Eleventh Avenue in the Chelsea (Manhattan), Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New Y ...

, New York, NY *2005 Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA *2006

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

, Rochester, NY *2007 The Centre Gallery, Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, Miami, FL *2007 Art Off The Main, Art Expo, Puck Building, New York, NY *2013 Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey *2013 Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France *2013 Ikono Gallery, Brussels, Belgium *2015 Paris Photo, Paris *2019 Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France

The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film

The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

private operating foundation headquartered in Rochester, New York. Rivera-Ortiz established the Foundation in 2010 to support underrepresented photographers and filmmakers from

less developed countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

with awards, grants, exhibitions, and educational programs.The New York Times
/ref> The foundation operates an exhibition space in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, France.

Collections

*Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, NY."Manuel Rivera-Ortiz", in Lori Marie Carlson, ed., ''Voices in first Person: Reflections on Latino Identity'' (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008; ); availabl
here
at Google Books. *

, Rochester, NY. *Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA. *William Whipple Art Gallery and Museum, Marshall, MN. *

, Kansas City, MO.Nelson-Atkins Museum Collection Database
*

The Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, Washington, D.C.

References

External links

*
The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film

Thoughts on Photography with Paul Giguere
Interview with Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, 2009
Humanitarian Photography. Interview with Manuel Rivera-Ortiz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera-Ortiz, Manuel 1968 births Living people People from Guayama, Puerto Rico American photojournalists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Artists from Rochester, New York Puerto Rican photographers Nazareth College (New York) alumni Documentary photographers Journalists from New York (state)