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Teala 🫧

@bealastudio

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spelman alum
a @tealaelise creative space
🫧Tokyo

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I've been in enough exchanges here of people handing me business cards when I don't have one to give in return. This is something I've put off for a long time - one of those simple tasks as a person that take longer because I'm the only one getting in my way. Just a few pomodorro sessions and I was done :)!

Now, I'll be using any opportunity I can to hand my business card over.

一緒にお茶でものみませんか？🍵

P.S. This definitely wasn't an empty cup. I brewed some of the best herbal tea I've had in a while that I got from South Korea. Mulberry Leaf Tea from Magpie & Tiger by @bealastudio

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2 months ago

As it says, I am in Japan once again! I wanted to share some handwritten notes surrounding my time here. No matter how many times I travel or where I travel to, there is always something new to learn and experience. It's a lot to take in, so thank you so much for reading! by @bealastudio

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3 months ago

I'm in a LA~ mood 🪷 I'll be doing a presentation on What Brought Us Together Is Belief at the Inglewood Photo Festival under the theme When the Students Become the Teachers!! I'm so excited to stretch myself beyond the creation process and find the words to convey my feelings on this work. If you're in LA, please stop by! It's gonna be such a fruitful weekend for all parties involved. by @bealastudio

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6 months ago

I feel like a high schooler again when I'm not photographing a portrait. My vocabulary feels minimal, I feel incredibly inexperienced, it feels like it's my first day with a camera ever. And all these feelings make me realize that my apprehension when entering the forest is deeper than I realize and calls to be mended in this lifetime. My very woodsy, very nature, very rural first artist residency was a beautiful start to reintroducing myself to the trees, the dirt, the silence, the moonlight and emphasizing that my relationship with nature is necessary and shouldn't be feared. It will definitelyyyy take some time but I like to think recognition is the first step 🪷 by @bealastudio

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9 months ago

This past Sunday completed my first ever Artist Residency at @hambidgecenter in Northern Georgia!!! There is so much that sits in my mind and body after leaving Hambidge that will make its way out throughout my years through photography, in conversations, in journal entries. I am so, so grateful for my times in solitude and to be paired with such a lovely cohort that consistently left me feeling energized and inspired. These are only a few moments from my two weeks in the woods but this time was filled to the brim with so much thought, so much community, and an abundance of creativity. taken in The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences by @bealastudio

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10 months ago

Photos by @bealastudio | This week, we’re sharing the work of our 2025 grantees!

Inspired by a conversation between renowned author, scholar, and critic bell hooks and contemporary multimedia artist Alison Saar around multiculturalism, Teala’s new project will explore cultural dynamics and emotional connections among expats in Japan – as well as the energy and longing to be a part of something despite a different upbringing. Having studied and lived in Japan previously, her immersion in a different culture strengthened Teala’s sensitivities and knowledge required to live in another country as a young Black queer woman while continuing to pay homage to her roots.

Teala Elise Avery is one of the five recipients of this year’s Women Photograph Project Grants. Teala is a translator, using the camera to bridge the spirits of those willing to look, to confront, and to be observed. Through constructed portraits and documentary photography, Teala captures the fellowship and essence of familial, platonic, romantic, and self-relationships. Her photographs speak to the safety and healing present within women and nonbinary relationships.

A huge thank you to our sponsors @mpbcom and @leicacamerausa. Read more about this year’s grantees at the link in our bio! by @bealastudio

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a year ago

Renaissance was the album of the day after recieving this call from Women Photograph 🪩 To be on the receiving end of such an outstanding grant is making my heart soar!!!! I'm so honored to be standing next to these amazing photographers in this year's class of Women Photograph grantees!!! Thank you and many congrats to everyone involved in this opportunity 🤎 by @bealastudio

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a year ago

despite warning, i wasn't expecting penland to steal my heart in the ways that it did. my definition of love is always transforming and it's experiences like these that are good for leaving me yearning. for it's people and it's beauty. to leave with memories that are all-consuming in the best of ways is really a gift. and now i know how to make a book for that ;) by @bealastudio

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a year ago

I always tell myself that I need to sit with my work more. To look, remember what I was thinking, how I was feeling, etc. As I question, analyze, and photograph new things, it's probablyyyy important now more than ever to look at the old in order to look differently at the new. I find that as I travel and move into new artistic territories, I make it a goal to create under the title of Taking Up Space as an ode to myself. Last year, I successfully photographed eight different people in Japan (and this year one person in Fiji)! With the successes of this 3 year project, I wanted to share some of the photographs created during my time in Japan. Born through belief and determination and as with every shoot, incredibly rewarding, challenging, and transformative. 💫🪼 taken in 日本 by @bealastudio

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2 years ago

In June, I had the pleasure to travel to Fiji with the Spelman Philosophy program. I was there as an artist - a photographer - and was able to practice my craft in a new space with a new people. Photography has been such a strong teacher in my life and as I figure out my relationship with video and moving images, I tried my hand at a little reel of my time there in such an incredible country with such a rich culture 🇫🇯🌟

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#fiji #fijiislands #photography #reels #photographer #internationalphotography #internationaltravel #suvafiji #portrait #videography #grouptravel #blacktravel by @bealastudio

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2 years ago

June in Fiji. taken in Suva, Fiji by @bealastudio

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2 years ago

"What also brought us together is belief. Belief in ourselves, in each other - believing that the gentleness and vulnerability required of a time like this will be treated with an immense amount of care. What brought us together goes beyond words + speaks to an emotional, spiritual, and creative connectedness that is ours for the exploring." —1/18/24

Thank you to everyone that has shown me and my craft, in all its varieties, so much love and tenderness. In all of its planning, photographing, printing, mounting, and more importantly, for every word and every vulnerable moment offered to me and my camera, this body of work is a product of those that have shown me their light and dark for all these years. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!

What Brought Us Together Is Belief (2023-2024) by myself showcased in the Spelman AVC Senior Thesis Show, A Home I've Never Been Before (2024) at Echo Contemporary.

Photographs by @neeksiebeeks 🫧📸 by @bealastudio

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2 years ago