Rachel Boillot is a photographer, filmmaker, and educator based in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a BA in Sociology from Tufts University, a BFA in Photography from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University. Her work has been funded by the Annenberg Foundation (Los Angeles, CA), the Riverview Foundation (Chattanooga, TN), the Tennessee Arts Commission (Nashville, TN), and the National Endowment for the Arts (Washington, D.C.).

Boillot currently acts as Director and Co-Producer of the Cumberland Folklife series of documentary films. A monograph of her photographs of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau will be published by Daylight in spring 2019. She is currently at work on a commission for the Kentucky Documentary Photography Project.

Hatmaker’s Farm. Rosehill, VA. 2018.

A Prayer for Evelyn. Cumberland Gap, TN. 2016.

The Ascension. Spencer, TN. 2015.

Moonshine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau

“Down in the valley,
Valley so low
Hear the wind blow

Down in the valley,
Telling our story
Here’s what it sings.”
– Down in the Valley ballad, as collected by Carl Sandburg and published in The American Songbag, 1927.

Moon Shine: Photographs of the Cumberland Plateau is a lyrical exploration of musical heritage in America’s Appalachian region. Old-time music, faith, and story-telling all inform this portrait of place. These photographs were made along the serpentine mountain roads between Signal Mountain and Cumberland Gap, tracing Tennessee’s Cumberland Trail corridor. Listening to the sounds of revelation springing from deep in the hollow, I considered how this might translate to visual imagery. I’m still out somewhere on one of those roads—and I’m still listening.

Eugene Hensley and the Jesus Rock Ministry. Jamestown, TN. 2014.

Cumberland Mountain. Crossville, TN. 2015.

Banjo-pickin’ Wade Hill. Knoxville, TN. 2014.

Tom McCarroll’s Record Player. Lenoir City, TN. 2014.

Ballad Singing Ema Lou Wilson. Harrogate, TN. 2014.

Sharp Family Kitchen. Crossville, TN. 2016.

Opal Playing Handmade Gourd Instrument. Jamestown, TN. 2017.

Evelyn’s Childhood Bible. Jamestown, TN. 2016.

Eugene and Jobie Pray. Wilder, TN. 2017.

Jesus in the Old Cabin. Powell, TN. 2015.

Rick and Gunsmoke the Cat. Jamestown, TN. 2017.

Michael’s Kitchen. Whitleyville, TN. 2015.

Peacock Feather. Norris, TN. 2014.

Charlie Higgens’ Pet Cemetery. Coalmont, TN. 2014.

Michael’s Guitar. Whitleyville, TN. 2015.

Blind Curtis Byrge on the day of the Eclipse. Oak Ridge, TN. 2018.

Leaving Michael’s Hollow. Whitleyville, TN. 2016.

To view more of Rachel Boillot’s work please visit her website.

---