PhotoWork Symposium at Aperture

PhotoWork and Aperture have come together to present a series of programs featuring the PhotoWork Senior Fellows. This inaugural program will feature presentations by the 2025 Senior Fellows: Michelle Arcila, Will Matsuda, and José Ibarra Rizo. Each artist will present the body of work created throughout the fellowship, followed by an intimate discussion on process and practice with their Mentors: Ron Jude, Raymond Meeks, and Kristine Potter.

The PhotoWork Senior Fellowship’s primary aim is to propel artists to the next stage of their careers by offering one-on-one guidance and critical exposure to experts who bring valuable skillsets in their area of expertise. Through this experience, Fellows learn about photobook conception, editing, layout, design, production, publication, distribution, and promotion in order to prepare themselves for the journey of publishing their first photobook. Artists Michelle Arcila, Will Matsuda, and José Ibarra Rizo will reflect on the impact of the fellowship and their experience with each of their mentors.

Capacity is limited, tickets are required to attend. More information will be made available soon.

Michelle Arcila is a Costa Rican American photographer living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2002 with a BFA in photography. Her work primarily focuses on family, motherhood, bicultural identity, and mental health. She was shortlisted for the PHMuseum Women’s Photography grant for 2025. Her photographs have been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, and are also in several private collections. She currently divides her time between the Hudson Valley and Brooklyn, NY, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Will Matsuda is a Japanese American photographer and writer focusing on his culture, his family, and the environment. His work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, and The New Yorker, among many other publications. A photograph from his series Hanafuda appeared on the cover of the Spring 2022 issue of Aperture magazine. His works have been exhibited internationally by Aperture and Yancey Richardson Gallery. He splits time between New York City and Portland, Oregon, where he was born.

José Ibarra Rizo is a lens-based artist based in Atlanta, GA. His work explores cultural memory, migration, and identity, with a focus on the migrant experience in the American South. He was awarded the inaugural Emerging Artist Fellowship by the Atlanta Center for Photography, named a finalist for the 2022 Aperture Portfolio Prize, recognized as one of three recipients of the 2022 Atlanta Artadia Awards, and selected as a 2023–2024 Working Artist Project Fellow by MOCA GA. José’s work is held in the permanent collections of the High Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, and the Michael C. Carlos Museum. His clients include Rolling Stone, TIME, and The New York Times.