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Carla J. Williams (born October 9, 1965, in Los Angeles, California) is an American photographic artist, writer, editor, and archivist.

Williams began her photographic practice in 1981 as a student at Princeton University, where she studied with Emmet Gowin, Susan Jahoda, Virginia Beahan, and photo historian Peter Bunnell. She earned her BA in Art and Archaeology / Visual Arts from Princeton University in 1986.

Williams received an MA and MFA from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque in 1988 and 1991. There she studied with Thomas Barrow, Patrick Nagatani, Anne Noggle, Wayne Lazorik, and Nia Parry.

Williams is author of numerous essays and articles about photography and culture and is co-author of two histories of photography, including The Black Female Body: A Photographic History with Deborah Willis published in 2002 by Temple University Press.

In 2015 Williams opened Material Life in New Orleans. It was the first of its kind retail space focused on Black artists and designers. Material Life closed due to COVID in March 2020. She followed with House of Black Style, an online-only shop selling vintage clothing, accessories, and ephemera by Black designers. It closed in 2023.

Williams’ first monograph, Tender, was published in 2023 by Oakland-California-based TBW Books edited by Paul Schiek. It was the recipient of the Aperture First Photobook award at Paris Photo in 2023.

Williams exhibits with Higher Pictures Generation in Brooklyn, New York. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Brooklyn, New York.