C.V.
Education
2014 Duke University, Durham, NC
Master of Fine Arts, May 2014
2010 Tufts University, Medford, MA
Bachelor of Arts + Bachelor of Fine Arts, May 2010
Exhibitions
2026 Year of the Fallen Oak Gallery 121, Watkins College of Art, Nashville TN (solo)
A Place of Wonder Do Good Fund Gallery, Columbus, GA (curated by Emily Rena Williams)
Blue Sky 2015-2025 The Fifth Decade Blue Sky Gallery Portland, OR
Dog Days of Summer Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
Year of the Fallen Oak Carnegie Center for Arts & History, Jackson TN (solo)
Faculty Biennial Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR
Material Work: Toil and Grace Griffin Museum of Photography Winchester, MA
Year of the Fallen Oak FotoNostrum Barcelona, Spain (solo)
2025 Documenting Kentucky Frazier History Museum, Louisville, KY
Southern Belle: Femininity in the Rural South Do Good Fund Gallery, Columbus, GA (curated by Emily Rena Williams)
Seeing Appalachia National Juried Exhibition University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Ruins and Remnants International Juried Exhibition, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
Joyce Elaine Grant National Juried Exhibition Texas Woman’s University Denton, TX
2024 CPA 2024 International Juried Exhibition Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
Revitalize! National Juried Exhibition Hot Springs, AR
Spring Pop-up Rangefinder Gallery, Chicago, IL
Sugar and Venom Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR
Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund
- 2024 venues: Lowe Museum of Art, Miami, FL + Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA +
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA
2023 Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR (solo)
Small Works F22 Fine Art Prints, Chicago, IL
2022 This Is Kentucky: Past, Present, Future N. Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY
28th Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
Vantage Point: The View from Here Lafayette City Center, Boston, MA
Found Objects International Juried Exhibition, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
The Beauty in Madness International Juried Exhibition Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Reckonings and Reconstructions: Southern Photography from the Do Good Fund Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Visage: Face with a View Cassilhaus Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
The Nature of the Future: Artists Explore the Anthropocene International Juried Exhibition, Leu Gallery, Watkins College of Art, Nashville, TN
Positive/Negative 37 National Juried Exhibition Slocumb Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
2021 Color: Photography Now National Juried Exhibition Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR
Big Town, Small City National Juried Exhibition MVA Arts Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
Southbound Photographs of and about the New South Windgate Museum of Art, Hendrix College, Conway, AR (co-curated by Mark Sloan & Mark Long)
2020 Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South LSU Museum of Art, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN
Unveiled: The Watkins College of Art at Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Picture in Picture Cassilhaus Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
2019 Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South Gregg Museum of Art + Design, Raleigh, NC
Appalachia aff Galerie, Berlin, Germany (Curator: Stef Rieder)
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR (solo)
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Gammill Gallery, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS (solo)
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau New Orleans Photo Alliance, New Orleans, LA (solo)
Southern Interiors Julie Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, AL
Louisville Photo Biennial Louisville City Hall, Louisville, KY
Positive/Negative 34 National Juried Exhibition Slocumb Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
Tangibility of Faith Tipton Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
The 5th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography FotoNostum Gallery. Barcelona, Spain
Seeing Appalachia Massillon Museum, Massillon, OH
2018 Southbound Photographs of and about the New South Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC (co-curated by Mark Sloan & Mark Long)
Photography Comes First and Language Follows Watkins College of Art, Nashville, TN
Slow Exposures: Celebrating Photography of the Rural South Zebulon, GA
Southern Photography Today Gammill Gallery, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Views of the South Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL
24th Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
2017 Southern Accent Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
The Female Lens Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA
Down the Valley Hamilton Arts, Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, TN
North Carolina: A Sense of Home The Bascom Center for Visual Arts, Highlands, NC
2016 Post Script Half King Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Post Script Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, Westbury, NY (solo)
Silent Ballad Lincoln Memorial University, Cumberland Gap, TN (solo)
Southern Accent Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC
Where We Live: Photographs of North Carolina Rubenstein Library, Durham, NC
ReGeneration 3 Museo de Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
2015 ReGeneration 3 Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Silent Ballad Framer’s Corner Gallery, Carrboro, NC (solo)
Southern Exposure National Juried Exhibition, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
Unbound 4 Juried Exhibition Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA
SPE National Juried Exhibition University of Central Florida Art Gallery, Orlando, FL
Behind the Lens: Women Photographers on Appalachia and the South Tipton St. Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
2014 Annual SPE Juried Exhibition Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Ain’t Bad at Art Now Morris Museum, Augusta, GA
InFocus Juried Exhibition of Photobooks Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Post Script Cassilhaus Gallery Chapel Hill, NC (solo)
Southeast Arts Summit Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
Variable Imprints Power Plant Gallery, Durham, NC
Presentations and Artist Talks
2026 An Unfixed Pilgrimage: Vulnerability, Kinship & Healing through Collaboration
Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Atlanta, GA (March 2026)
Reciprocity Reframed: Co-creating in the Light of Belonging
Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Atlanta, GA (March 2026)
2025 Photobook Panel at Southern Festival of Books Nashville, TN (October 18)
Year of the Fallen Oak (virtual) Rhode Island School of Design (September 22)
2024 The Pruitt Project Panelist, Delta Cultural Center, Helena-West Helena, Arkansas
2023 Allan P. deLoach Memorial Prize Juror Artist Talk, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Artist Talk, Cinema & Media Studies, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
Collaboration, Funding, and Documentary Fieldwork University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Artist Talk (virtual), East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
2022 The Pruitt Project Panelist, Reynolds Journalism Institute at UMissouri, Columbia, MO. Panel sponsored by NEH/MO Humanities
Navigating the Professional Landscape L.A. Center for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Artist Talk, Boston Photographic Society (virtual)
Unveiled: The Watkins College of Art at Belmont University Nashville, TN (virtual)
2019 Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
2018 Sounds of the South College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
2017 Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Meet the Maker, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
2016 Post Script Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, Westbury, NY
Post Script: Fading Traditions and Place Half King Gallery, New York, New York
Where We Live: Photographs of North Carolina Rubenstein Library, Durham, NC
2015 Tracing the American South Cassilhaus Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC (curatorial)
Grants, Awards, Commissions
2025 Faculty Research Award (Nathan Deutsch Fund) Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
2023 Curator’s Choice, Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Charles Gaines Studio, Los Angeles, CA (photographs for American Manifest)
2018-2021 Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project, Louisville, KY
2018 Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Award, Vancouver, B.C.
Curator’s Choice, Ain’t Bad: An Independent Publisher of Contemporary Art
2017 PhotoNoLa Portfolio Review Prize, New Orleans, LA
Southern Documentary Fund, Durham, NC
2016 National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsWorks Grant #16-5500-7126, Washington, D.C.
Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN
The Riverview Foundation, Chattanooga, TN
2014 Where We Live fellowship, funded by the Annenberg Foundation (Los Angeles, CA)
Select Publications & Bibliography
2026 Arts & Letters Southern Cultures UNC Press, Chapel Hill, NC. Summer 2026
2025 Image published in The Atlantic with Russell Berman essay, February 2025
2023 Notes on Going Home Margaret Renkl New York Times Opinion (image with M. Renkl essay)
2022 The Music Issue Oxford American, Fall 2022.
Reckonings and Reconstructions ed. Jeffrey Richmond-Moll. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA
2021 Who Owns Mike Disfarmer’s Photographs? The New Yorker Magazine, New York, NY
2020 The Disappearing South Caroline Sanders Garden & Gun magazine. April/May 2020.
Why These Post Office Photos Have Special Meaning for Me. Caroline Sanders. Garden & Gun “Behind the Stories” feature. April/May 2020.
Rachel Boillot’s Book Moon Shine Provides Unique Insight into Appalachia’s Traditions. Devid Gualandris. Ignant Magazine. October 15, 2020.
2019 Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau Daylight Books (artist monograph)
Eight Photo Stories That Will Change Your View of the World. Kate Bubacz BuzzFeed News. August 24, 2019.
Capturing the Fading Past of Tennessee’s Old-time Country Music. Kenneth Dickerman The Washington Post. August 16, 2019.
A Portrait of Musical Heritage in Appalachia. The Guardian. April 22, 2019.
Genuine Soul: Rachel Boillot on Tennessee’s Folk Musicians. Financial Times London Weekend Magazine. March 1, 2019.
Kirhoff, Michael. “Photographer Spotlight: Rachel Boillot.” Catalyst Interviews. January 30, 2019.
2018 Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
ECLIPSE and light followed the flight of sound. One Day Projects, Richmond, VA.
Hawkins, Nicole. “Curator’s Choice: Rachel Boillot.” Ain’t Bad, Issue No. 13.
2017 Truth in Stories Editor’s Letter, Eliza Borne. Oxford American Spring 2017
2016 Post Script featured in Harper’s Magazine.
Southern Accent Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC
Alyssa Ortega Coppelman “Seeking the South in Contemporary Art.” Oxford American
The Elderly Bearers of a Folk-Music Tradition in Rural Tennessee. Katie Ryder, The New Yorker Magazine’s Photo Booth. May 22, 2016.
Where We Live: Photography Between Decades. Laura Lee, Frank Stasio, WUNC News. April 28, 2016.
The Disappearing Post Offices of the Rural South. David Rosenberg, Slate Magazine April 3, 2016.
2015 Tracing the American South (co-ed. with Tom Rankin), Conveyor Books, Richmond, VA
Simmons, Morgan. “Cumberland Trail’s Sandrock Recordings Unlike Any In World.” Knoxville News Sentinel, December 20, 2015. Page 1A.
Photographer Rachel Boillot Documents Disappearance of the USPS. Hannah Parry,
Daily Mail UK. September 27, 2015.
After the Postal Service The Oxford American April 23, 2015.
ReGeneration 3 Skira Rizzoli Publishing, Milan, Italy
2014 Simmons, Morgan. “Music of the Cumberlands: Photographer, 27, Captures Old-Timers.” Knoxville News Sentinel. July 7, 2014. Page 1A.
Post Script Limited Edition Hardcover Publication, Edition of 100
Photographer Documents Post Office Closings Across Rural South. Nicole Campbell, Frank Stasio, WUNC News. May 13, 2014.
Collections
Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University (Durham, NC), Rubenstein Library at Duke University (Durham, NC), Sloane Art Library at UNC Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC), Cassilhaus Gallery (Chapel Hill, NC), Greenville Museum of Art (Greenville, NC), The Do Good Fund (Columbus, GA), Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, AZ), Indie PhotoBook Library (Washington, DC), Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth, TX), Archives of Appalachia (Johnson City, TN), Tennessee State Library & Archive (Nashville, TN), Booklet Library (Tokyo, Japan), Salford Library (Manchester, UK), Photo Elysée (Lausanne, Switzerland)