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

photographer A photographer (the 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 photographers As in oth ...

. 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 word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...

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 ce ...

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 ...

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, autho ...

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 Springfiel ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. 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 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) 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. 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 ...

. 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 fac ...

'') 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 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 ...

,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 and the

Museum of Fine Arts Berne The Museum of Fine Arts Bern (German: ''Kunstmuseum Bern''), established in 1879 in Bern, is the museum of fine arts of the de facto capital of Switzerland. Its holdings run from the Middle Ages to the present. It houses works by Paul Klee, Pab ...

. 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 castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

("Untouchable") Caste of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and the Aymara 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 ...

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 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 secon ...

slums. In 2011, he documented the September 11 Commemorations in Shanksville, Pennsylvania 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 Epi ...

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 publi ...

, 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 event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

,'' 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, 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, Zurich, Switzerland

Selected group exhibitions

*2003 Credit Suisse, New York, NY *2004

Memorial Art Gallery The Memorial Art Gallery is the civic art museum of Rochester, New York. Founded in 1913, it is part of the University of Rochester and occupies the southern half of the University's former Prince Street campus. It is the focal point of fine arts ...

, 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 West 22nd Street on the corner of Eleventh Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The museum focused on post-war European art. The museum was in ...

, 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 ...

, 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. * Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 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 ...

, 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)