Christianne Ebel, a Queer BIPOC photographer & visual artist, grew up surrounded by family lore in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-generational household situated in rural NJ. Her family tales, which originated from different parts of the world, founded her. Those stories inspired Christianne to seek out how people, events, cultures, languages, identities, and silent moments come together to make a narrative. Later on, her passion for stories and storytelling turned into a career as a photojournalist for nearly two decades.

During her time as a photojournalist, Christianne worked for various newspapers in NJ & PA. She also developed a multi-media piece and photography narrative titled ‘David’s Story’, which was exhibited in multiple galleries, as well as published in the German magazine STERN-CRIME. For ten years Christianne documented David, an openly gay NJ resident, attempting to homestead in various parts of the country before settling in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas where he was finally able to fulfill his dream of owning land, working it, and building his own dwelling. ‘David’s Story’ originally intended as a long-term documentary project exploring the idea of the “American Dream” and what that encapsulated after the housing market crash of 2008. The story took a tragic turn when David was murdered by an intimate friend shortly after Christianne finished a week of photographing both David and his friend developing David’s land and cabin.

Eventually, Christianne’s lens expanded and turned into a medium for fine art and portrait photography. She had a solo exhibition for her work ‘Sverige: a photographic monologue’ in 2009-2010 at the Rydals Museum in Sweden, and also was the 2009 recipient of the American Scandinavian Society's Cultural Grant. She holds a BA in Visual Communications from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and in 2022 she graduated with an MFA from The School of Visual Arts, in NYC, where she also was a recipient of the 2022 SVA Alumni Scholarship Award. During her MFA she further developed her already established art practice exploring and questioning the intersections of mental illness, trauma, culture, identity, colonization, erasure, and the fragmentation and formation of self and personal narrative, as well as how visual language guides the creation of reality. Her MFA thesis proposes a way for visual language to be harnessed as a healing modality for physiological and psychological ailments. Christianne interlaces theories from psychology, quantum physics, photographic theory, and sociology into her art practice and photographic projects. She tries to expand the boundaries of how we understand the impact of visual language on the formation of reality for both society and its individuals.

Presently, Christianne continues to develop the project ‘Community Portraits’, a portrait series photographing underrepresented peoples within the county she resides in. The work has been exhibited at Flemington DIY in 2022 & 2023. Most prominently, Christianne’s focus is on her current project titled, ‘The Expressive Portraits Project’. A photography project in conjunction with the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, PA, where she donates her photographic services to the families staying there. Christianne’s long-term goal for ‘The Expressive Portraits Project’ is to turn it into a non-profit organization serving families facing fatal, chronic, and/or debilitating childhood illnesses and disorders.

Christianne and her work can be found at www.ChristianneEbelPhotography.com or on Instagram as @Christianne.Ebel.Photo. Additional donations to help support Christianne and her projects can be made through Venmo at @Christianne-Ebel