Charity Rachelle is an American lens-based documentary artist focused on themes of tradition and tribalism in the Deep South. Her work challenges dominant social narratives by examining complexities within communities that are too often reduced to stereotypes and clichés.

Her interest in tribalism (the strong loyalty people feel toward their social or cultural group, sometimes at the expense of critical thinking) and the origins of traditions are investigated through immersive fieldwork and long-term engagement. Charity uses photography to explore how these dynamics shape personal identity, belief systems, and culture at large. Her approach is rooted in curiosity about the forces that bind people together, as well as what keeps them apart.

Charity grew up in rural Alabama and currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama. She is a 2025 Magnum Foundation grantee and member of the 2025 FotofilmIC Annual Mentorship Program. In 2024 she was awarded the Alabama State Council on the Arts Gay Burke Memorial Photography Fellowship. Additional awards include the Verdant Fund Project Grant (2022) and Alabama State Council on the Arts Media/Photography Fellowship (2018). She has presented her work at Artfields (2019), and the Wiregrass Museum of Art (2018). Charity is a member of Women Photograph (2022-present). She works as an assignment photographer for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Guardian, and The Atlantic.

Artist portrait by Moe Kite.