Rachel Papo was born in Columbus, Ohio and raised in Israel. She began photographing as a teenager and attended a renowned fine arts high school in Haifa, Israel. At age eighteen, she served as a photographer in the Israeli Air Force. She earned a BFA in fine art from Ohio State University (1996), and an MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City (2005).

Rachel's photographs are included in several public and private collections, including: The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Griffin Museum of Photography, Boston. Her images have been exhibited and published widely. Exhibitions include the Griffin Museum of Photography, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, 92nd Street Y, and Hebrew Union College Museum, New York. Her photos have been published in magazines worldwide, including in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Israel, France, Spain and China. Rachel has been awarded a 2006 NYFA Fellowship, was selected as a finalist for the 2006 Santa Fe Prize for Photography, and received the 2006 Ronnie Heyman Prize for an Emerging Jewish Visual Artist.

Rachel's first book, Serial No. 3817131, was published by powerHouse Books in 2008. She is represented by ClampArt Gallery in New York City where a solo exhibition opened in February 2009.