Chris Aluka Berry
Born in 1977
Lives and works in North Carolina
Chris Aluka Berry is an American photographer who lives in the Appalachian Mountains of Madison County, North Carolina. He grew up among the pine trees and cotton fields of rural South Carolina. Aluka’s storytelling photography challenges stereotypes and reminds us that human complexity knows no bounds.
His education as a photographer began at The State Newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, where he excelled in long-form storytelling. While there, he was named the SC News Photographer of the Year four times and received the Ambrose Hampton Award for Outstanding Journalism and the Judson Chapman Community Journalism Award. After leaving the newspaper to pursue a freelance career, he provided photography for clients such as Time, NPR, The Atlantic, LA Times, The New York Times, London Free Press and many other clients. His photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries, and are part of permanent collections throughout the U.S., including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C.
For more than eight years, Aluka worked on his first book, Affrialchia: Testimonies, published by The University Press Kentucky in October 2024. The book documents the Black experience in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Georgia, North Caroline, and Tennessee. This experience renewed Aluka’s belief in the power of photography to preserve history and illuminate our shared humanity.
To earn his living, Aluka takes photographs for various community-based, non profit, magazine and corporate clients across the U.S. However, it is his personal documentary work that feeds his soul. He has begun a second volume of Affrilachia: Tetsimonies and nears completion of his ongoing art project, “Fear Death, and the Other Side.”
WORKS 
Hog Hunter (1/8), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Summer in Texana (1/12), 2021, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Before the Hunt (1/8), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Daddy's Gone (1/8), 2018,Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Earl One Sunday Morning (1/8), 2017, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Bear Hunters (1/12), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Those Who Were (1/12), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Deacon's Prayer (1/12), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
104 (1/12), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Meditation (1/8), 2017, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Collection Song (1/12), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Camp Meeting Memorial Service (1/4), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 30 x 40 in.
Gathering Tree (1/12), Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Deriona (1/12) Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Night Service (1/12), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Omission (1/12), 2017, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Father and Son (1/8), 2017, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x32 in.
Rev. Jenkins DeSoto (1/12), 2018, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Lake Santeetlah (1/12), 2020, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 X 18 in.
Soap Car Dreams (1/8), 2018, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Ancestors (1/4), Giclée fibre rag print, 30 x 40 in.
Tank's Favorite (1/12), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 12 x 18 in.
Waiting (1/8), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
Freeze Hill (1/4), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 30 x 40 in.
Testimony (2/8), 2016, Giclée fibre rag print, 24 x 32 in.
EXHIBITIONS
rEN Dillard: Letters to Deja
November 15, 2023 — January 15, 2024