Cristina de Middel facts for kids

Cristina de Middel, born in 1975, is a talented photographer and artist. She has both Spanish and Belgian roots. Cristina lives and works in Uruapan, Mexico. She is a full member of Magnum Photos, a famous group of photographers. Her amazing work can also be found in the Tate collection, which is a big art museum in the UK.

About Cristina de Middel

Early Life and Learning

Cristina de Middel was born in Alicante, Spain. She has family from both Belgium and Spain. She studied photography and fine arts at several universities. In 2000, she earned a master's degree in Photography from the University of Oklahoma in the USA. The next year, in 2001, she got another master's degree in Fine Arts from the Technical University of Valencia in Spain. She also studied photojournalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2002.

Her Photography Work

Cristina de Middel worked as a photojournalist for ten years. A photojournalist takes pictures for newspapers and magazines to tell news stories. In 2012, she decided to leave her newspaper job. She wanted to focus on her own special photography projects.

One of her most famous projects is The Afronauts. She published this photo book herself in 2012. The book is about a real but short-lived space program in Zambia from the 1960s. Cristina used staged photos to tell the story. This made people think about what is real and what is not in photography. The Afronauts was so good that she was nominated for a big award, the 2013 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.

In 2017, Cristina became a nominee member of Magnum Photos. This is a very respected group for photographers. By 2022, she became a full member. In June 2022, she made history. She was the first person from Spain to be chosen as the president of Magnum Photos.

Another important project is Journey to the Center, released in 2024. For this work, Cristina photographed groups of people. These groups were migrants traveling through Mexico. They journeyed from the border with Guatemala all the way to Felicity in California.

Awards and Recognition

Cristina de Middel has won many awards for her photography.

• In 2013, she was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for The Afronauts.
• Also in 2013, she received the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography.
• In 2014, her book Party: Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung won an award. It was named the Best Photography Book in the international category by PhotoEspaña.
• In 2020, she won the Prix Virginia. This award is given to talented female photographers. She received it for her work Journey to the Center.

Exhibitions

Cristina de Middel's work has been shown in art exhibitions.

• In 2022, her photos were part of an exhibition called Close Enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum. This show was at the International Center of Photography in New York.

Collections

Cristina de Middel's photographs are kept in important art collections.

• The Tate museum in the UK owns 46 of her prints. These are part of their permanent collection.

See also

In Spanish: Cristina de Middel para niños