Atlanta, Georgia | Advisor: Ron Jude
José Ibarra Rizo (American, born Mexico, b. 1992) 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, selected as a 2023–2024 Working Artist Project Fellow by MOCA GA, and named a 2025 PhotoWork Senior Fellow.
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.
“Through this mentorship, I had the space and guidance to critically examine my practice, identify gaps in my work, and refine my artistic vision. Most importantly, it allowed me to build a personal and professional relationship with Ron Jude, whose insight and support have profoundly shaped the way I approach my work.”
– José Ibarra Rizo | ’25 Senior Fellow
Project Statement
Cultivate is the first chapter of an ongoing project exploring the Latinx/é migrant experience in the American South, centered on my hometown of Gainesville, Georgia, with much of the work also made in Doraville, and the rest across the metro Atlanta area. Since 2021, I have been making this work to understand belonging in what I call the “in-between” — the space between cultures, homes, and histories.
Through portraiture and landscape, and in collaboration with those I photograph, the book becomes a visual archive that . The work incorporates portraits and landscapes of makeshift milpa gardens to examine the relationship between migration, cultural memory, and the ways people re-create home through the land. While this chapter is rooted in Georgia, the larger project aims to grow across the geographic South, documenting how migration reshapes communities, landscapes, and identity throughout the region.
2025 Senior Fellows: Michelle Arcila | Will Matsuda | José Ibarra Rizo