Caroline Japal is a multidisciplinary photographer and art director. Existing at the intersection of editorial styling, intimate portraiture, and cultural reclamation, her artworks aim to intertwine southern Black histories with the subtle narratives of everyday life. She holds a BFA in Photography and Painting from The University of Alabama and an MA in Design for Art Direction with Distinction from the University of Arts London.

Drawing from her upbringing as a Southern Black American, her work is rooted in themes of identity, memory, and reclamation. Her images often navigate a space between movement and stillness, projection and introspection, finite and non-finite. In her practice, she explores the subtleties of presence, how individuals occupy spaces both physically and emotionally. Drawn to the sentimentality of everyday environments: chairs left empty and askew, reflections in glass draped in spiderwebs, or fleeting gestures captured mid-motion. Every moment becomes a glimpse into themes such as place, identity, and spirit.

Her work blends the polished clarity of editorial imagery with the emotional resonance of documentary photography, approaching each image as emotionally complex stories—ones that resist flattening personal ties and instead invites deeper understanding and connection from the viewer.

Caroline Japal currently lives and works in New York City as an Art Director and Photographer.