Prix Fixe is the result of artist Sophia del Rio's experience working as a waitress during and after the 2020 pandemic. She was compelled to document the experience and that of her co-workers. 'Prix Fixe' is a fine-dining menu term that translates to "pre-fixed prices and availability," and in the context of this exhibition, speaks to the hard-lined destiny of restaurant industry workers' limited options.

This artistic body of work started outside the galleries as a social work called "100 Plates." The immersive art event took the form of a dinner party, and hosted a group of 12 restaurant workers from different Fort Worth restaurants to discuss wage and labor issues. The work has since expanded to include a series of paintings of beautiful restaurant dining rooms that reveal how difficult these elegant places are to scrutinize. The drab-colored Commemorative Plates series provide contrasting scenes of the hard-working kitchen staff, waitresses and bartenders of the modern restaurant.

The service workers in all over Texas face many of the same injustices as those highlighted by the North Texas stories in the exhibition. The restaurant industry lobby is pushing it’s agenda to expand the same tipping-based wage system, and undocumented and marginalized workers throughout the United States. As workers continue to struggle under low pay, unstable hours, and lack of safety nets. The exhibition humanizes the workers in our local communities and restaurants, recognizes shared patterns of systemic neglect and labor practices, while encouraging discussion of fairer conditions.