Welcome back to Sombra Y Cultura, a place where photography becomes storytelling, and stories become something we can carry with us far beyond the frame.

Today’s episode feels like a quiet moment carved out from the busy world — the kind of moment where you look around, take in the people near you, the food, the sounds, the warmth,and you feel grateful for something you can’t quite put into words.

That feeling—soft,reflective, unspoken—is the perfect doorway into today’s photographer.
Because what she gives us is not just imagery… but space.

Today, we’re stepping into the beautifully symbolic, deeply cultural, and almost spiritual world of Flor Garduño,one of Mexico’s most fascinating and poetic visual storytellers.

Imagine standing inside a quiet room in an old rural home.
There’s a stone floor under your feet, a window cracked open letting in soft daylight, and on a small wooden table sits a single clay pot, perfectly still.

Now picture a woman behind a camera — composed, observant, patient — waiting not for the perfect light but for the perfect presence.

That woman is Flor Garduño.
And this is the kind of world she builds: not rushed, not loud, but alive in away that invites you to pause.

Garduño’s photographs don’t scream for attention.They whisper — and somehow that whisper stays with you longer than a shout ever could.

Flor Garduño was born in 1957 in Mexico City, raised between urban life and the quieter rituals of the countryside. These dual experiences shaped much of her visual vocabulary — the tension between modern life and ancestral tradition, the balance between form and spirit.

She studied at the Academia de San Carlos, one of Mexico’s oldest art institutions, where she learned the foundations of visual composition and the power of allegory. But her true transformation came when she worked as an assistant to Kati Horna, a Hungarian-Mexican photographer known for her surrealism and storytelling.

Horna didn’t just teach Garduño technique. She taught her how to see — how to treat a photograph as a living organism, how to honor symbolism, how to make silence part of the narrative.

Flor Garduño’s contribution to photography can be summed up in one word:

Presence.

In a world of fastimages and disposable visuals, Garduño gave us the opposite:

• Quiet strength
• Ritual
• Symbolic storytelling
• A return to the roots of identity, culture, and myth

Her work documents everyday people across Mexico and Latin America, but she doesn’t simply “capture” them — she collaborates with them. There is dignity in every pose, depth in every shadow, and a profound respect for Indigenous identity, nature, and womanhood.

Her black-and-white compositions are studied in museums and universities around the world for their remarkable sense of balance. Shapes, textures, objects, bodies — everything feels carved from the same soft stone.

She reminds us that photography is not just seeing the world…It’s listening to it.

Several projects define Flor Garduño’s legacy, but three stand above the rest:

1.Testigos del Tiempo (1989)

A powerful series documenting Indigenous and rural communities throughout Latin America. This series preserves cultural memory, ritual, tradition, and identity with deep reverence.

2.Bestiarium (1990)

Where animals,symbolism, and myth collide.
One of the most iconic images from this series is:

“Totem,1987”

A masterpiece.
A woman stands in profile, a large bird perched on her head — the image is part surreal, part mythological, part portrait of strength.
It represents balance, harmony with nature, and the merging of human and animalworlds.

3.El Secreto (2002)

This series centers on womanhood, shadows, form, body, and mystery. It is poetic, intimate, and timeless. (You can view Flor's work by clicking here)

Flor Garduño’s impact is both global and deeply cultural.
Her photographs have been exhibited in:

• MoMA (New York)
• San Francisco MoMA
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• And numerous museums across Europe     and Latin America

But her real influence lies in how her images reconnect people to something ancient —something rooted in the land, in ritual, in the stories passed down quietly from generation to generation.

She brought dignity, strength, and poetry to the lives she photographed, creating a visual archive of identity, myth, and memory.

And in today’s fast-paced world, her work reminds us to return to presence…To roots…To gratitude…Without ever needing to say the word.

If today’s episode resonates with you and you’d like to support Sombra Y Cultura, I’ve placed a small donation link you can click (here). It’s never required, but deeply appreciated — and every bit helps keep these stories alive.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

Flor Garduño’s photography is a reminder that stillness is not emptiness.
Stillness is strength.
Stillness is history, memory, and identity rising to the surface without noise.

Her work invites us to breathe for a moment, to appreciate the quiet details we often rush past —the same way many of us pause during this season to look around and feel thankful for what surrounds us.

She shows us that photographs don’t just record life — they hold space for it.
They honor it.
They protect it.

And in that way, Garduño continues to be one of the most important visual storytellers of Mexico and Latin America.

Thank you, truly, for being here and for supporting Sombra Y Cultura.
If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to help the show grow is by leaving alike, rating, or review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Those small actions make a massive difference and help this community reach more listeners who love storytelling through photography.

I appreciate you all, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

-Chris

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