charityrachelle.com

charityrachellephoto@gmail.com

The IVF battle continues here in Alabama after a court ruling that deemed frozen embryos are “children”.  I recently spent time observing embryologists at the Alabama Center for Reproductive Medicine  for The New York Times.  The doctors underwent a lengthy step-by-step process of transferring selected frozen embryos out of Alabama using new hi-tech vending-machine-robots created by TMRW.  In order to store and “upload” the embryos, the machine requires a retina scan for access - it was all very space-age and fascinating.

I’m also beginning work on on a long-form assignment about the IVF controversy in Alabama but til then, here’s the recent story that just published

I covered the UAW Mercedes vote for New York Times (stories here and here) as well as a story about the controversy surrounding tax credits for investors to purchase properties in low income areas, and a story for Hechinger Report about former school superintendant Heath Grimes’ problematic firing.

I am circling the runway as I find ways to land my historical documentary project about Searcy Hospital in Mt. Vernon Alabama. The title always comes to me before I start a project but for some reason this one has evaded me the whole time. I think I know what it will be called and will decide very soon, but I’m still hoping for that magical aha! moment when the project tells you its name.

In any case, it  feels amazing to be at the point in the process of putting a lid on eight years of off-and-on research and to now be selecting visuals for the educational booklet and visual arts show.  This project was partially funded by The Verdant Fund Project Grant. For Alabama artists, the applications are open now til September 27th if you’re interested in applying.  

Lately I’ve been on a quest to find films and projects that utilize new and creative ways to tell stories, especially true ones. It’s easy to feel like seen-one-seen-them-all with traditional documentary formats.

I finally watched the fictional but speculative Operation Avalanche and it was a blast. Its a film about documentary filmmakers who pitch and accomplish faking the 1969 moon landing. Four Daughters also blew me away with its unique approach: actors playing non-fictional characters alongside the actual characters - weaving in and out of the story all at once - a brilliant approach to telling a heart-aching tale.

Last week I watched Civil War and wow - has there ever been a movie before where a photojournalist is the main character? That alone made it worth the watch, not to mention its preying upon the eeriness of visualizing near-future possibilities in our current political climate.

I’m excited to announce that I have been awarded this year’s Gay Burke Memorial Photography Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. I will be using this fellowship’s time and funding to further my current documentary project, “The Promised Land”.

From the press release:

“Charity Rachelle of Birmingham was awarded the Gay Burke Memorial Photography Fellowship. She is a lens-based documentary artist exploring tradition and tribalism in the U.S. with a concentrated gaze on the Deep South. Charity’s long-form photo series, “The Promised Land,” documents the daily lives of religious community members living on a compound in rural Alabama. Through her work, she investigates humankind’s tendency toward group conformity, calling attention to complexities that are too often reduced to stereotypes and clichés.

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