Meet Christabelle!
Christabelle Barker obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of North Florida in December of 2025. Christabelle takes on various approaches to express topics surrounding identity, emotion, and passion. She primarily focuses on portraits, but explores a wide variety of genres, like her most recent, titled Before Hours, which explored The Avenues mall before operating hours.
Christabelle draws inspiration from the world around her—the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the challenging. She seeks to capture the essence of life in every shape and structure, capturing emotions she wants her viewers to feel with her. Through her portraits, she focuses on incorporating each individual’s personality within the theme, empowering them to feel more confident and seen. This is evident in one of her series "Ordinary People," showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida, where normal individuals are displayed as the “main character”. All of Christabelle’s series are shot with the intent to make people remember what it means to feel human and love the life around them.
What Have I Been Up To?
What Have I Been Up To?
My most recent project is a collection of photos that display different areas of the Avenues Mall in Jacksonville, Florida, an hour before it opens. I want to show viewers how barren a place can be when no one else is around, as well as how quiet it is. Avid shoppers know what the Avenues Mall is like while it is open, so I aim to show what they miss before the chaos shopping can bring. These bodies of work are named “Before Hours”.
I start by arriving at the mall a few minutes before my shift, and wander the mall with a new perspective. I take in how empty it is and use my digital camera to capture those moments. I find the quieter, but most populated areas when the mall is open and photograph them with the memory of past visitors in mind. I do this so viewers may compare how loud and packed areas they have visited were, or remember others visiting, versus how they feel when it is empty and quiet.