“Rizo’s striking photographs unveil what has been previously hidden in plain sight–working people and the families they are raising in southern Georgia. With his keen eye, Rizo spotlights a community of people, who have long been marginalized, revealing that just like everyone else they too are in search of the quintessential American dream.” – Juror Rehema C. Barber

José Ibarra Rizo (b. 1992 Leon, Guanajuato) is a multidisciplinary artist working and living in Atlanta, Georgia. José received a BA in Studio Art with a concentration in Drawing and Painting from Georgia College & State University. He is the inaugural recipient of the MINT + ACP’s 2021 Emerging Artist Fellowship and is one of five selected artists for MINT’s 2022-23 Leap Year artist program. 

José’s latest body of work utilizes photography to tell the stories of his community and how they occupy space and express their multicultural identity in the American South. He collaborates with his subjects to create images that speak to the complex and diverse experiences they collectively share as working-class people in America.