Héctor García

What I've done practically all my life is to be a witness and to make graphic testimonies of the movements and struggles of the social classes in Mexico. This continues to be the most important motive I have to do photography.

—Héctor García—

Born on August 23, 1923, in Mexico City, Héctor García’s interest in photography grew out of his social consciousness. García first began taking pictures in the 1930s to document protests by the working class. At the Instituto de Artes y Ciencias Cinemato-gráficas, he studied with Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Gabriel Figueroa. García then spent time traveling and photographing in northern Mexico and the eastern United States. After working as a photojournalist for Mexican and international publications, he became involved with filmmaking and has since earned several awards for his various endeavors in cinematography. In 2002, he was awarded the prestigious Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes in Mexico. Héctor García died on June 3, 2012. The Wittliff Collections is proud to house seventy-two of his photographs in the archives.