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Émilie Teresina Caracciolo
BIOGRAPHY
Born in France to a South-Italian working-class family, Émilie Teresina Caracciolo discovered early on that photography was her means of making sense of the world.
For Émilie, capturing moments through her lens became an essential way to understand and document the complexities and beauty of life around her.
Before dedicating herself fully to photography, Émilie spent 15 years as a social worker. Her career included supporting asylum seekers, working as a street-worker, and serving the Juvenile Judge.
These roles profoundly influenced her perspective, making photography not just a creative outlet but a way to stay connected to herself, to others, and to the broader world.
READ THE INTERVIEW
What does art mean to you?
Although I began taking photos early, it is only recently that I have started to consider myself an artist. For a long time, art felt beyond my reach, something reserved for the elite. In a deeply personal way, I see art everywhere, every day, that is why I celebrate the ordinary, transforming it into something extraordinary. My journey began with a connection to street art, which led to a continuous process of discovery and learning. Art has helped me live life, offering a way to express and make sense of the complexities of human perception.
Photography was the most accessible medium for me. Capturing my family whenever I could, I never thought of it as artistic. It was a response to an instinctive need, to immortalise, to archive. Faces, moments, expressions, fleeting seconds in a world that never stops moving. Even when time or money made it difficult, I could never stop. I would use whatever camera was available. From an early age, I also had a particular relationship with authority, it only feels legitimate to me when it is consistent. The system is not broken; it functions exactly as designed, keeping us divided. Art is one of the ways we can come together and remain critical.
What inspired you to become an artist?
I have used this compulsive need to archive to respond to something greater: the need to explore, to react... to be a voice, however small it may be. Uprooting, hardship, and exclusion have always resonated with me. After working various jobs, I became a social worker, my main profession for 15 years. While many see social work as a form of control, correcting those who stray, enforcing paternalistic attitudes, or serving economic interests, I see it as a commitment, requiring interpersonal skills, savoir-être (as we say in French), and genuine listening, not just to what is said, but to what remains unsaid.
Working under hard conditions is becoming increasingly difficult with the socio-economic and ideological shifts in society. Patronising attitudes are intolerable to me. With this in mind, and through the people I have met, I have integrated art into my social work whenever it felt relevant, possible, and respectful. Several projects were later developed further by organisations and institutions. I am deeply convinced of the power of art for the people, and being an artist is my way of ensuring access to it. Popular culture should be represented by the people, not by an elite that uses it to legitimise itself, smoothing over the violence of injustice with misplaced compassion. I see myself as a hybrid, someone navigating contradictions, building bridges between different worlds and communities, striving to transform pain into something meaningful. I recognise these same values in Carlotta Gallery, and for this, I am especially grateful.
How has photography influenced your understanding of people and places?
I have made a proverb mine: "Travel is going from self to self through others." Only later did I learn, it was a Tuareg one.
Photography, to me, is a way to travel between solitude and connection, both necessary, both beneficial, both painful. Knowing others is just as important as knowing oneself, and these two parts continuously shape each other. I have always tried to be helpful, and I would be lying if I said I had not received just as much in return, time, food, advice, and more. I have learned so much, from the details of everyday life to deeper motivations about others, about myself, about how the world moves. Between my personal and professional practices, whether in social work or photography, there is a constant back-and-forth between the world and me. In this way, I have travelled and learned endlessly. More recently, through multiple exposures, I have found a way to create and compose with elements that have always drawn me in, that feel relevant, and to continue transforming pain into beauty, in response to the harshness of the world.
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo has a unique talent for capturing the essence of moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, revealing the inherent beauty in simplicity and hardship.
Recently, she has been experimenting with multiple exposures, allowing her to create images that reflect the visions in her mind; an artistic endeavour to see the world as she wishes or imagines it could have been.
Her photographs are not just images; they are stories, emotions, and a testament to her journey and the lives she touches through her work.
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