Ana Victoria Jiménez (August 31, 1941 – November 23, 2025) was a Mexican photographer, editor and feminist activist, who actively participated in the second wave of Mexico's feminist movement. She was best known for her archive, Archivo Ana Victoria Jiménez, which contains photographs, posters, and flyers that demonstrated or related to women activism in Mexico.
Background Ana Victoria Jiménez was born in Mexico City on August 31, 1941. Her parents were Ana Álvarez and Ramiro Jiménez. She began her activism at the young age of seventeen.Abelleyra, Angélica. "Por el derecho a la felicidad: Entrevista con Ana Victoria Jiménez." Nierika: Revista de Estudios de Arte In her house, during the 1950s and 1960s, she and her family read many journals by Política and other newspapers, that informed on the political climate; she also had many friends that she would attend political conferences with. As most famously known for her photographs and archive, Jiménez's educational training did not involve photography. After finishing her studies at Sindicato de Pintores y Escultores, she worked as a typesetter in a print shop. Her job was to check for any spelling errors found in linotype presses. Years later, she worked for IBM where she spent much of her time utilizing a portable machine. Jiménez's activism and militancy was first enacted through the Mexican Communist Party and later on, in Mexico's feminist movement. It wasn't until her involvement with the women's movement, that Jiménez began her work as a photographer and archivist. After participating and documenting in the movement for many years, Jiménez decided to begin her work as an independent editor, co-author, and desktop publisher. She focused her writing on the history of the Unión Nacional de Mujeres Mexicanas (UNMM), its members, and artists. She also wrote through many Mexican journals, newspapers, and books, concentrating on themes such as: domestic work, women biographies, and campesinas (women peasants).ANTIVILO PEÑA, Julia. “ARTE FEMINISTA LATINOAMERICANO Rupturas De Un Arte Político En La Producción Visual.” UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE FACULTAD DE FILOSOFIA Y HUMANIDADES ESCUELA DE POSTGRADO, 2013, repositorio.uchile.cl/bitstream/handle/2250/114336/Antivilo Julia_2013.pdf. In 2011, her documentations of the women's movement gained recognition and was exhibited as an archive at, the Universidad Iberoamericana. Thereafter, Ana Victoria Jiménez formed part of important exhibitions in the United States and continued her work as an editor and author in Mexico.
She did not attain a high school diploma. However, she did attend, Sindicato de Pintores y Escultores, in Mexico, where she studied graphic arts. It was not until later of her photography career that she took an instructional class with well known photographer, Alicia D'Amico. In 1974-75, Jiménez decided to continue her photography education by enrolling in classes that would train her on technique.
Jiménez died in Mexico City on November 23, 2025, at the age of 84.Murió este día la fotógrafa, activista feminista Ana Victoria Jiménez
Activism Communism Jiménez was dedicated to activism from the 1960s onwards. In the beginning of her activist career, she formed part of the Communist Party. Within the Communist Party, specifically the Communist Youth League, she was able to become the secretary of the party's Comité Central (The central Committee). Also, during her participation in a communist party named Central Campesina Independiente and Frente Electoral del Pueblo (Central Peasant Independent and Electoral Front of the People), Jiménez was arrested and detained during an operation by Mexico City police, which was organized with the intent of stopping radical activity by communists. Furthermore, due to her position as the secretary of the Comité Central, Jiménez was able to travel to the Soviet Union, and other communist countries.
Feminist movement Jiménez's active participation in Mexico's feminist movements, specifically during the post-revolution and second wave, allowed the activist to support feminist issues such as the legalization of abortion, equality, and recognition. Still considered a communist activist, Jiménez moved on to become member and founder of, Unión Nacional de Mujeres Mexicanas (UNMM). During her time with the UNMM, she became the group's representative at the International Democratic Federation of Women (FDIM), which was stationed in Berlin. With the FDIM, Jiménez and others constantly worked on bulletins for the group. Then, in the late 1970s, she decided to form part of Mujeres en Acción Solidaria (Women in Solidarity Action). After becoming part of Mujeres en Acción Solidaria (MAS), Jiménez's activism began to shift focus onto feminism. Gabriela Aceves Sepulveda tells us that through Mujeres en Acción Solidaria, specifically after the march towards Mexico's Mother's Monument (May 9, 1971), a march which demanded a change in the manipulation of Mother's Day and women objectification of the media, Jiménez actively began documenting demonstrations. Another group that Jiménez decided to join, in 1972, was Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres (MNM). MNM was established by Esperanza Brito de Martí and other women, whom worked in broadcasting and print media industries such as Martha de la Lama.Rosa, María Laura, and Soledad Novoa Donoso, editors. Compartir El Mundo: La Experiencia De Las Mujeres y El Arte. Metales Pesados, 2017.
Furthering her involvement with the feminist world, Jiménez engaged in many feminist art collectives. Being part of feminist art collectives, according to Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, allowed Jiménez to question the discrimination in art that women faced. Her questioning, led her to produce work that mirrored personal experiences of women in the movement and creating exhibitions, which implemented the idea that one should challenge the patriarcal culture found in art. One of the feminist art organizations she became involved with was, Tlacuilas y Retrateras, founded by artist and feminist activist Mónica Mayer, which was one of the first feminist art collectives in its country and gained notoriety with its controversial work La fiesta de XV años.Giunta, Andrea. "Feminist Disruptions in Mexican Art, 1975–1987".
Works Photography Much of her recognized photography is those photographed during Mexican Feminist Movement. Many of Jiménez's images portray activist during protest and events such as the March for Decriminalizing Abortion (1977), in front of Mexico's Angel of independence, and the protest in the National Auditorium against the ideas posed by the Miss Universe contest of Mexico. During the time that Ana Victoria Jiménez was dedicated to photography, she sold some of her work and was even asked to create images for store catalogues. Her photos of feminist demonstrations were many times featured in the newspapers and magazines, but were not given credit. Jiménez claims that she decided to leave photography when she realized that it was not her line of work, unlike her work as an editor. She did however, continue capturing photos until the 1990s.
Jiménez began to create still photography in 1978, when she began to work with Cine Mujer, a collective which was founded by Rosa Martha Fernandez and Beatriz Mar. Cine Mujer was founded in 1975 with the purpose to create films that highlighted women's issues. Within Cine Mujer, Jiménez captured images for many films such as, Cosas de Mujeres 1975-1978 (Women's Matters). Cosas de Mujeres'''s objection was to reveal the abortion restrictions that women faced. The still images, which Jiménez created for the film, were presented in many campaigns that tried to decriminalize abortion. Another film that Jiménez created with Cine Mujer was, Rompiendo Silencio (Breaking the Silence), which was released in 1979 and centered on raped women. Both films, were captured in black and white, shot with 16mm, featured interviews, fictional narrative, still photography, and statistics.Aceves, Gabriela (February 2019). "¿Cosas de Mujeres?" Feminist Networks of Collaboration in 1970s Mexico". Artelogie. no. 5. Gabriela Aceves claims that, Jiménez's still photography, showing demonstrations by feminist, contributed to placing Mexico's feminist movement in a state of credibility, and a place where they fought for global women issues.
Jiménez's first photographic essay was, Jiménez: 1985. This photographic essay, narrates a story in which a woman climbs up to a tree to speak of her youth, while also portraying wishes of getting married and fulfilling her dreams. The woman of this narrative, is eventually beaten by her husband and her children are taken away from her, resulting in her becoming crazy. According to Andrea Giunta, Jiménez's purpose of this photographic essay was to shed light on the influence that religion had on women in Mexico.
Other photographic essays that she created were, "Ensayo Sobre Todo Trabajo Domestico" (Essay on All Domestic Work) and Cuaderno de Tareas. Ensayo Sobre Todo Trabajo Domestico, is a photographic essay on domestic work, from 1978, containing many photographs that capture the daily lives of domestic workers. Cuaderno de Tareas, is also a project in essay form, that documents (from 1978-1981) a domestic worker; Jiménez shadowed a specific female domestic worker. In this project, viewers can see the pictures of the domestic worker performing her paid job, such as cleaning and washing clothes. Jiménez decided to highlight "focus" on the worker's hands “as she cooked, cleaned the bathroom, washed by hand, folded clothes, wrote on her type writer, and used the sewing machine." Cecilia Fajardo-Hill claims, that Jiménez's work in this project was intended to “recognize” the “value of work in the home” which was an issue that many feminist wrote about during this time.
Ana Victoria Jiménez's photographic style was highly associated with radical feminism by the end of the 1970s. According to Ana Victoria Jiménez, her style in photography was spontaneous when she first began to take photos. She utilized journals to read about techniques, but she did not know how to professionally handle a camera; she took photos as she pleased. After receiving some training in 1975, Jiménez claims to have known how to better handle a camera and take pictures. Before her training, she states that, she would capture images by a far distance because she was "afraid of the camera", but afterwards, she began to get close to the people she captured. During her time of working with collaborative groups, Jiménez built a dark room in her home, where she learned to develop photolithographs to produce negatives for print productions. She even experimented with photolithography to print her own photographs and works.
International Dinner Party The International Dinner Party, was organized by Suzanne Lacy to celebrate her mentor, Judy Chicago. This exhibition was created in the context of Chicago's first exhibition. It took place at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Jiménez documented and participated in this exhibition, which consisted of thirty-nine ceramic dinner sculpture plates on a table, tablecloths with metal, scraps of leather, and pieces of wood. The display was forty-four meters long and was displayed to the public for three months. Aside from recognizing Judy Chicago, the exhibition was also dedicated to many outstanding women like: Elvira Trueba, Adelina Zendejas, Amalia Castillo Ledón and Concha Michel.
"El juego de la sirena tratando de romper el círculo sin fin"