Based in London, British photographer Francesca Allen earned her degree in Photography at London College of Communication.

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.

Stand out commissions include a project with British Journal of Photography, where Francesca travelled 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.

Francesca has been commissioned to bring her vision to editorial titles and brands such as Adidas, American Vogue, Dazed, i-D, Love, Riposte, Stella McCartney, Teen Vogue, Topshop and Twin Magazine.