Francesca Allen

Francesca Allen (*1993) is a British photographer and filmmaker, who studied photography at London College of Communication and is based in London. Allen’s work focuses on intimacy, particularly the nature of female friendships, girlhood and the often complicated coming-of-age experience. Stand-out projects include the books Aya (2018) and I’d like to get to know you (2022), and “Women of California,” a commission from the British Journal of Photography to photograph 50 subjects across the state’s most remote regions. Allen’s photographs have been published in magazines including Dazed, i-D, and British and American Vogue, and exhibited at institutions such as London’s Somerset House and The Photographer’s Gallery. Her series I’d like to get to know you was part of the UK WOMEN exhibition, curated by Ralph Goertz and produced by the IKS.

 

Set during a summer in rural Devon, I’d like to get to know you is an exploration of the tentative foray into a new relationship.

Francesca turns her gaze curiously on her younger sister Alida, but not without hesitation. Growing up, the traditional sibling bond has felt elusive. The series documents the sisters tiptoeing around each other with a palpable tension, a push and a pull, opening up and later holding back; relationships are not linear.

 

The resulting body of work paints a vivid and sun-soaked picture of a complex yet flourishing relationship with changing dynamics, not only in how Francesca sees Alida, but how Alida sees herself.

 

 

I’d like to get to know you, 2022