Some photographers start young — as kids with a camera in their hands. Others find photography after a long journey through life’s questions.

Lissie Habie was one of the latter.

She began her photographic work in her thirties, after having lived enough life to be driven by deep curiosity and a desire to understand the expressive potential of the medium. And that late start didn’t hold her back. In fact, it set the stage for a lifetime of creative exploration that blended craft, intuition, and heart.

Today, let’s talk about Lissie Habie — a Guatemalan photographer whose images, prints, and artistic vision span more than two decades of experimentation, expression, and cultural contribution. Her story feels like a reminder that art isn’t a race, and that sometimes the richest voices come when someone brings lived experience into their work rather than leaving it out.

Lissie Habie was born in Guatemala City in 1954.

She didn’t take up photography until she was about 32 years old — a fact that shocks anyone who expects artists to always begin early. But for Lissie, something about photography clicked at that point in her life. She dove into the craft with enthusiasm, studying historical processes and attending workshops led by renowned photographers like Duane Michals and Jerry Uelsmann.

Her early years in photography were marked by exploration and risk-taking. She didn’t adopt a single style or stick to conventional approaches. Instead, she embraced a broad array of techniques — from platinum-palladium prints to cyanotype to gum bichromate — and developed her own expressive voice over time.

What makes Habie’s work stand apart isn’t just a subject she returned to — it’s how she approached photography.

She didn’t settle for straightforward representation. She pushed the medium itself, trying different processes and ways of crafting images that felt tactile, poetic, and layered. The result is a visual body of work that feels less like documentation and more like a conversation between technique and meaning.

Her work includes:

• Photographic prints
• Alternative photographic processes
• Assemblages
• Sculptural work that combines image and object

For those wanting to view her work, I've provided a link to some of her work here

Many of these pieces were created over a twenty-year period, revealing not just a consistent artistic voice, but one that matured and deepened over time.

Her work often carries a certain tone — reflective, layered, and poetic — blending traditional approaches with experimental touches that signal an artist who wasn’t afraid to blur boundaries.

Lissie Habie’s art sits in major collections around the world. That’s not a small achievement — it’s a marker of genuine impact and recognition.

Her photographs and works are part of the permanent collections at:

• Brooklyn Museum (including works like Gaslight (Gas Pump)).
• Centre Pompidou in Paris.
• Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

To have work acquired by these institutions shows that her images carry aesthetic, historical, and cultural value beyond borders.

This is impressive for any artist — and especially notable for someone who began later and forged her own path.

Lissie Habie was not just a photographer — she was a humanist and a builder of community.

In 1998, she and her husband Mitchell Denburg founded the New Roots Foundation in Antigua, Guatemala.

Their mission was simple and profound: to support education, art, culture, and the environment in Guatemala. The foundation’s work reflects the values Lissie brought to her photography — empathy, heritage, connection, and sustainability.

Among its early efforts was a program known as Creceré, which provided educational opportunities and safe spaces for young girls from underserved communities. The foundation later expanded into environmental and artistic initiatives that continue to this day.

Through this work, Lissie didn’t just make art. She worked to shape environments where art, education, and life could flourish together — an extension of what she believed photography could do: help us see and think more deeply.

Lissie Habie passed away in 2008 but her legacy endures in multiple ways:

• Through her photographs living in major museum collections.
• Through the ongoing work of the New Roots Foundation, which fosters cultural and educational projects.
• Through the monograph Lissie Habie: A Life in Pictures, which brings together her images, alternative prints, assemblages, and sculptural work — a testament to her lasting creative impact.

Her visual legacy is not rooted in one subject or one place — it’s a testament to experimentation, curiosity, and the belief that photography can connect art and life in meaningful ways.

If this story resonates — if this history, this creative spirit, feels meaningful — you’ll find a donation link here. Your support helps keep this kind of cultural storytelling alive and grounded in real lives and real places.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

What I love about Lissie Habie’s story is that she didn’t begin with a career in photography.

She began with curiosity.

And that’s a different starting point.

Her work demonstrates that craft is important — but purpose and vision are what give art longevity.

She reminds us:

It’s never too late to find your voice.
It’s never too late to make work that matters.

She didn’t just create images.

She created a bridge — between art and life, between education and culture, and between craft and compassion.

And that feels like one of the most important lessons any artist can offer.

If this episode moved you — even a little — consider leaving a rating or review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your reviews help Sombra y Cultura reach listeners who might not otherwise encounter these stories of artists whose work shaped the visual history of Latin America.

Thank you for supporting meaningful storytelling. Thank you for listening.

I’ll talk to you soon.