Arielle Gray, 29, Featured in CULTURED's 2026 Young Photographers List

Nashville-based photographer Arielle Gray, 29, is among 14 artists aged 30 or younger spotlighted in CULTURED's 2026 Young Photographers list. A Yale graduate, Gray creates hazy stills that foreground familial relationships, community ties, and hometown bonds. Her poetry practice, recently published in The Bitter Southerner, has deepened the emotional stakes of her visual work. In an interview, Gray said her images ask how we grieve, how we refuse to perform feminine ideals, and how interiority functions in relation to the human psyche. She hopes her work assuages fears about being secure in softness, arguing that softness is not a moral failing and that feeling and empathy are as necessary as cold, concrete facts. Gray cites Carrie Mae Weems as a key influence, recalling the impact of seeing Weems's Untitled (woman and daughter with makeup), 1990, in her first photo class. She wants to see less homage and more risk-taking in photography today, urging artists to be honest about why and for whom they make work. In images, she looks for a distinct color palette, citing Deana Lawson's Young Grandmother, 2019, as her favorite use of color in a photograph, along with risky compositions and texture, which she finds satisfying for its paradox of informing interior and space while revealing nothing about the people portrayed. The feature is part of CULTURED's 2026 Young Photographers list, which highlights 14 artists from around the globe.