Joel Angel Juárez, Author at The GroundTruth Project

Joel Angel Juárez

Joel Angel Juárez is a documentary photographer born and raised in the coastal city of Oxnard, California to parents who migrated from México to the United States at a young age. My mother became a social worker and my father became a high school Spanish teacher and soccer coach. Both have created lasting impacts with the community I grew up with and have even turned lives around with their mentorship. Their legacy have without a doubt shaped the approaches found in my work of visual storytelling. I have worked on projects focused on immigration policy, military veterans, policing in America, the environment and my own family history. I fell in love with photojournalism after realizing its power as a tool for communication and in fostering relationships with those around me. It also became my avenue for creating dialogue among others even if it was just one person—that individual might be the one to make something happen. My ongoing, long-term project documenting the deportation of United States military veterans was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Fran Ortiz Photojournalism Grant in 2018. The project also received awards from the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. In 2017, my coverage on the conflicts surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline was awarded silver for domestic picture story in the 72nd College Photographer of the Year. It is important for me to acknowledge the individuals that had and continue to have the courage to share their stories with me and for opening their homes with trust. I have interned at the San Francisco Examiner and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I have also freelanced and contributed to ZUMA Press,Anadolu Agency, Associated Press and the San Francisco Chronicleamong others. I am currently available for assignments based in the greater Los Angeles region and the U.S.-México border in California.

Death is the only guarantee of these troops returning home. A casket draped with stars and stripes will...

Jan 02, 2019

Joel Angel Juárez

Discharged and deported

THANK YOU TO OUR LEADERSHIP SUPPORTERS