For photographer and artist Carolyne Loreé Teston, making images is an act of seeing, being seen, and creating space for others to find their own voice. Jo Rosenthal for Elephant.
Carolyne Loreé Teston is among the rare breed of New Yorkers who are beautiful both inside and out. Originally from Georgia, she has lived in New York for a very long time. She’s lived throughout different corners of the city before eventually finding her oasis in Brooklyn a few years ago, where she lives with her beloved cocker spaniel, Ollie, and her husband, Ford. No matter where she goes, Teston has an uncanny ability to discover beauty in the everyday. She has built a life that radiates a deep sense of community, following her wherever she goes. She’s an artist to her core and wouldn’t have it any other way. Making art has always been her anchor, serving as both a compass and source of inspiration throughout her life.
Teston has been a performer for as long as she can remember. As a child, she staged shows for the neighborhood and sold inventions she’d make at sidewalk sales, turning her imagination into opportunity. Creativity was never just a hobby for her. It was a natural extension of who she was. After enrolling in an after-school art program and having a teacher vividly expand her mind through art history, she ended up studying photography in college. Her first visit to New York in 2012 made her move two weeks later. She immediately started working in fashion and on commissioned photo assignments. As a full-time freelancer, she found herself living the dream.
Teston graduated with her MFA in photography at Bard in 2025. She currently teaches a photography workshop focused on the act of image-making. It has fostered stunning portraiture over the last few seasons and is a hot ticket to acquire in NYC. After completing grad school, becoming a teacher became her calling. To her, teaching can take many forms, and any place can become an experiment and a place of discovery.
PRISM is a six-week analog portrait workshop focused on how individuals perform for the camera and the world. It examines the act of seeing and being seen, while drawing inspiration from portraiture in art history. For Teston, PRISM has been a beautiful moment that has further affirmed her joy in teaching and her desire to teach at an academic institution in the future. She loves collaboration in the classroom and is always inspired by her students and a learning environment that cultivates experimentation.
She compares her relationship to photography to a Venn diagram. Each aspect of her commercial work and her conceptual art practice lives within the other, informing each in an endless loop. She finds freedom and fulfillment in both. Teston hopes for an art community grounded in mutual respect, functioning as an independent ecosystem. She values integrity, honesty, and meaningful exchange. Her hope is for an art world that values human connection as much as the work itself.
She loves helping others find their voice. There isn’t a person who doesn’t feel special when she notices them. She thinks about Roland Barthes all the time and uses his work as a jumping point when thinking about creation. Specifically, this excerpt from Camera Lucida:
“The portrait-photograph is a closed field of forces. Four image-repertoires intersect here, oppose, and distort each other. In front of the lens, I am at the same time: the one I think I am, the one I want others to think I am, the one the photographer thinks I am, and the one he makes use of to exhibit his art…”
Teston recently presented Emulsion to Emulsion at Clubland Counterfeit, a shipping container gallery. The exhibition engaged viewers by operating as a life-size pinhole camera, recording everyone who participated. She is now in residency at Gowanus Darkroom, making lumen prints under melting ice. These experiences have been formative for her.
Teston moves through the world on her own timeline by observing others and looking inward. She’s interested in autonomy and reciprocity, as evidenced in her performances and photography. She wants to be seen, and she wants to see you just as you are. Through photography and performance, she’s always looking at the power dynamics she has with herself and how she can relate them to how others see the world around them.
Registration is now open for the August-September session of PRISM. Follow Carolyne on Instagram.
