Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Teri has been photographing fragments of American culture as a way of connecting with the world around her for the past thirty years. Recurring themes in her work include individuality, isolation, and the enduring self-sufficiency of people and places that are often left behind. Her photography is a study – and ultimately a celebration – of cultural and geographic desolation.
In an era of homogenized conformity, infinite reinventions and gleaming new construction, Teri seeks the simple, stripped down remnants of a nearly forgotten America. Although her subjects frequently stand solitary and disconnected, in their autonomy there is extraordinary strength.
After studying photojournalism at the University of Texas and serving as an intern at the Magnum photo agency in New York, Teri developed her printmaking skills by improvising darkrooms in kitchens and motel rooms across the country (while working as an itinerant cocktail waitress).
Teri currently lives in rural Colorado with her husband Mike. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and featured in numerous publications including: The Huffington Post, The London Sunday Times, The Sun Magazine, Photo District News, Adore Noir, and on the NPR website. In 2016 she was a recipient of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award. Teri is immensely grateful for the funding she has received from the Puffin Foundation, Dave Bown Projects, The Mind’s Eye and The Luminous Endowment. When not lost in the backcountry, or in her darkroom producing palladium prints, she can be found in her 1988 Ford van on the track of the perfect roadside bar.
