Artist Biography
Raichelle Colbert-Ruffin, pronounced Ray-shell, is a Black American artist based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida and her medium is digital photography. Her greatest inspiration has always been her family and she is passionate about making images that will help a memory last beyond our lifetime. But she is equally motivated by the need for an increase in black representation, as well as the need for social justice in marginalized communities within the United States. She hopes to be able to say something and advocate for change through her work. When she started with photography, she was self-taught. But she later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Photography from Arizona State University, which has helped her to cultivate her craft to a new level.
Artist Statement
"My identity as a Black American woman, wife, mother, daughter and sister helps to inform my creative process through both my experiences and observations in every one of these roles. As a photographer, my camera and lens act as both witness and vessel, documenting the world as it is, while imagining what it can be. I have a deep appreciation for time and how fast it seems to move, so like many photographers, I am drawn to light, composition and opportunities to capture fleeting moments that can tell stories for years to come. But, I also use photography to disrupt as I document, aiming to peel back layers of place, history, and power and to honor those whose stories are often rendered invisible. Aiming to be guided by history, my work is personally, emotionally, and politically inspired by my desire to advocate for change that will not only benefit my own family, but the black community and society as a whole. My hope is that through my work I can not only make memories withstand time, but also shed light on disparities, subvert negative and false narratives, hold presence, inspire reflection and appeal to the morality within people to also advocate for what’s ethically right in the face of what’s wrong. My lived experience shapes not only what I see but how I see, which allows me to hold complexity with tenderness and truth." - raichelle colbert-ruffin
Exhibition Feature
Featured in Arizona State University's Annual BFA Capstone Exhibition in May 2026.
(Snapshots below courtesy of Betsy Schneider & Deborah K. Bunker)
This photograph was also chosen as the poster image representing the exhibition.
(Poster courtesy of Ashley Czajkowski)
