Cinthya Santos Briones

Cinthya Santos Briones is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker of Nahuatl heritage based in New York City. With a background in ethnohistory and anthropology, she spent a decade conducting research at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico, focusing on Indigenous migration, codices, textiles, and traditional medicine. Her multidisciplinary practice combines participatory art and collective storytelling, weaving together nonlinear narratives through photography, archival materials, writing, ethnography, drawing, collage, embroidery, and popular education. Her work centers community voices and social engagement.

Cinthya holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Photography from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, as well as a Certificate in Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism from the International Center of Photography (ICP). She is currently an adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and serves as Associate Director of Outreach and Partnerships at the Mexican Cultural Institute, where she also leads interdisciplinary research projects.

She has been a visiting artist at institutions such as Columbia University, Rutgers University, and the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. Her work has been the subject of numerous fellowships and recognitions, including support from the Magnum Foundation (2016, 2018, 2020), In Focus (2017, 2022), National Geographic Research and Exploration Grants (2018), We Women (2019), City Artist Corps (2020), Mexico’s Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (2009, 2011), Wave Hill House’s Winter Residency (2023), a Mellon Fellow at the Hemispheric Institute at NYU (2023–24), BricLab Contemporary Art (2023), Talk of the Town residency at El Museo del Barrio (2024), and NYSCA (2025), among others.

Her photography and writing have appeared inThe New York Times,PDN,California Sunday Magazine,Vogue,Open Society Foundations,Buzzfeed,The Intercept,The New Yorker,The Nation, among others. As a writer, she has contributed to academic and journalistic publications such asNACLA,The Nation andLa Jornada.

Cinthya has exhibited her work in individual and collective exhibitions at institutions such as Sky Blue Gallery (Portland, OR), The Latinx Project at NYU, the International Center of Photography, El Museo del Barrio, the Museum of the City of New York, the Trout Museum (Wisconsin), and the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University. She has given art talks at numerous universities, including Columbia, NYU, Boston College, CUNY, SUNY New Paltz, and Dutchess Community College.

She is the co-author of the book“The Indigenous Worldview and its Representations in Textiles of the Nahua Community of Santa Ana Tzacuala, Hidalgo,” and the co-creator of the documentary"The Huichapan Codex.". In addition to her artistic practice, Cinthya has worked as a community organizer with pro-immigrant organizations in New York, addressing issues such as detention, education, and sanctuary. She has also accompanied migrants to immigration courts and asylum hearings, and serves as a legal guardian for unaccompanied migrant minors.