Caroline Japal (b. 1996) from Birmingham, AL (U.S.A.) is an artist, photographer, and art director. With an intense interest in Black Southern American life, she creates work that explores the connections between identity and place by combining moving and still images, print, and object making. She uses archival research, first-hand accounts, and personal artifacts to create work that explores the interconnectedness of Black artists and the ties they have to their personal histories.

She completed her MA in Design for Art Direction with Distinction from the University of the Arts London (London College of Communications) in 2023, and her BFA in Photography and Painting from the University of Alabama in 2018.

In 2017 Japal founded Art Concept Magazine, her first major creative project, and served as Photo Desk Editor at The Crimson White newspaper. The year after, she served as an Art Director for Belladonna Magazine and alongside Tryna B Studios founder, Leslie Gomez, until joining the creative agency Cultured to Create in 2019, as Art Director and Installation Logistics Coordinator. After moving to London in 2022, Japal has begun creating work closely related to her roots in Alabama and the Deep South. Through her projects Akin and suBlack, she explores her genealogy, family history, and the connection our work as Southern Black artists has to our homeplace. She is currently in preproduction for her film suBLACK.