White's photographs explore America's social fictions and collective identities. His earlier bodies of work, and , were influenced by the highly staged art direction of photographers such as Jeff Wall. In 2003 White exhibited , a series of eleven photographs that look at religion, entertainment, privacy, and pop culture. In 2006 White exhibited "" a series of works looking at collective trauma, national anguish, and the tension between what is created in the image and what it was modeled from. Such influences include the Manson Family murders in 1969 and the 1978 Jonestown massacre. In 2008 White created a body of work titled, , which consists of a 35mm short film titled , an experimental animation titled , and a series of new photographs. White created and exhibited the series ' at the curated by Ali Subotnick. The series paired up one male-to-female transgender adult with a female teenager doppelgänger and photographed them side by side to create a neutral comparison of two simultaneous biological transitions. The pair was photographed in front of a blue grid, a common reoccurring element in many of his subsequent works. Continuing his work surrounding themes of American teenagers, White finished a series titled ' in 2010. In this body of work, White hosted a casting call for one "California Girl" between the ages of 13 and 16 to appear on a billboard in participation with LAXART. The performance and casting process lasted one day and was open to the public. In 2011 White was included in the Singapore Biennale, where he exhibited the works "" from Girl Studies as well as "Magazine Covers 2004-2007". In 2012 White exhibited several works at LACMA including a new animation titled ‘’, as well as past works such as ‘Casting Call’, and the works from Girl Studies. The exhibition was titled, , and included works by Katy Grannan alongside White. '' was a collaborative project between White and Bryan Hollon, also in 2012. The result of the collaboration was an album and series of music videos combining music with recorded teen girl monologues. White's body of work, titled ‘’, was created in 2014 and was his first time photographing staged nudes and still lives. The figures and objects are all positioned in front of a single blue grid. Charlie White also contributes writings to journals and publications such as Artforum, and Words without Pictures. He is also the editor of , a triannual online journal that has published essays by CJ Pascoe, poetry by , and works by artists such as Josiah Mcelheny.
Exhibition history
White's work has been featured within the following venues and exhibitions:
Charlie White created a music video for the band Interpol in 2004 for the single "Evil", from the album Antics. He also directed the lead single for the band's 2010 self-titled release, "Lights". Charlie White took part in the 2006 Adicolor web campaign, which invited young directors to make a short web film based on a color. White selected the color pink, and worked with musician Greg Weeks.
