Born in 1981 in Mexico City, where he continues to live and work, Iñaki Bonillas explores the materiality of photography and its multilayered meanings. Investigating how photographs change and are reinterpreted depending on their context, he examines questions of image structure, memory and representation. His work often focuses on the material and conceptual margins of photography, using subjects such as family photographs, archives, erasures, captions and fiction as points of departure for new interpretations.

Bonillas began his artistic career without formal training at an art academy and gained international recognition before the age of twenty. In his early works, he undertook analytical investigations into the fundamental processes of photography, from printing photographs to the very moment the camera shutter is released. A decisive turning point came in 2000, when he inherited his grandfather’s extensive photographic collection, which he subsequently named the J. R. Plaza Archive. Comprising nearly 3,000 photographs arranged in thirty albums, approximately 800 slides, and a range of documents and publications, the archive became the starting point for numerous works produced between 2003 and 2016. Through this material, Bonillas explores the cultural history of photography and the complex relationships between image, memory and meaning.

Bonillas has exhibited internationally and participated in several major biennials, including the Venice Biennale in 2003, the Prague Biennale in 2005 and the São Paulo Biennial in 2012. His work has also been presented in exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2020 and the FEMSA Biennial in 2024.