Francesca AllenI'd like to get to know you, 2020 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 and 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. British photographer Francesca Allen earned her degree in Photography at London College of Communication and is based in London. Francesca uses her camera as a tool for intimacy. Exploring the nature of intimate female friendships, her images hold a mirror to our own personal relationships with those closest to us. This approach is typified by her debut publication Aya, published by Libraryman in 2018. Spending a month in Japan with the book’s namesake, Japanese musician Aya Yanase (also known as Aya Gloomy), the two women do not share a common language but do everything together. Their friendship blooms via the medium of Francesca’s photography. I’d like to get to know you, published and exhibited in March 2022, exemplifies Francesca's craft. Exploring the evolving relationship between herself and younger sister Alida over a summer in Devon, this second monograph documents the sisters tiptoeing around each other with a palpable tension, a push and a pull, opening up and later holding back. Stand out commissions include a project with British Journal of Photography, where Francesca traveled out to California to photograph 50 subjects across the State’s remotest regions. The resulting body of work, Women of California, paints a vivid and sun-soaked picture of female closeness, and the rituals that help to nurture these bonds.
