Bernice Kolko is recognised as Mexico's first professional female photographer, despite being born in Grajewo, Poland. The youngest of two brothers and a sister, Kolko and her family emigrated to the USA in 1920. By 1929 she had graduated, married and had her first son Eugene in New York City. She later found herself travelling around Europe and took a photography course in Vienna under the professor Rudolph Koppitz. Returning to the United States in 1934, Bernice pursued her career as an independent photographer, and during the 2nd World War enlisted as a photographer for the United States Women's Army Corps.

Kolko spent the last two decades of her life in Mexico, where she photographed the country’s women, markets, and Indian culture. A relationship that significantly marked her life and career was that with Frida Kahlo. The artists only met in the last two years of Kahlo's life, and yet countless memories were made and recounted in Frida's diary during their extensive travels together.

Portrait of Bernice Kolko, courtesy of Fundación Zúñiga