Raised between Detroit, Michigan, Roanoke, Virginia, and Ellenwood, Georgia, Ciarra weaves narrative essay, portrait photography, and experimental short film to explore Black spiritual practices as viable paths toward constructing Black interior life and freedom. With a focus on her Black American Southern ancestry, Ciarra collects family oral histories, photo albums, journals, annotated scripture, and recipes as critical sites of inquiry and knowing. She cites "the peculiar, strange, queer, and not readily legible elements of Black life” as the guiding foundation within her practice.
Ciarra has delivered lectures at Columbia University, Spelman College, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. She has also completed studies at the University of Michigan, the International Center of Photography, and the World Peace Initiative in Thailand.