Francesca Hummler (b. 1997) is a visual artist and researcher working with photography. She received her B.A. in Media Arts and B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego in 2019. She received a Master’s in Photography with distinction from The Royal College of Art in London, England in 2022. Interested in issues regarding identity she draws from her experience as the daughter of German immigrants in the United States to explore the archive, familial intimacy, and generational trauma. Influenced by the concept of photo-therapy Francesca often utilizes self-portraiture to untangle her sense of self. Recently she has expanded her therapeutic practices to photograph others, offering them solace in working through their traumas. In 2021 she was selected as one of the laureates of the Carte Blanche Étudiants award for her series “Unsere Puppenstube” and displayed her work at Paris Photo. In 2022 she won the Young Talent Award from the Vonovia Award for Photography and had her work displayed in the Sprengel Museum. Francesca completed an artist residency with the National Justice Museum in Nottingham, U.K. in March 2023, where she considered human rights abuses caused by the American D.A.C.A. policy. Her work was collected by the Odunpazarı Modern Museum in Türkiye, featured in the Hamburg-based magazine Photonews, and she was interviewed by Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Recently in May 2023 she had her first solo in Erlangen, Germany.
1/1 Exhibition: Unbinding Histories
In 2022, a group of artists from different parts of the world gathered in Arles for a residency program led by renowned photographer Antoine d’Agata. They used photography and archival materials to explore the complex concept of identity and address pressing social issues. The result is an exquisite blend of voices, colors, and points of view that challenges us to reflect on, empathize with, and relate to the intricate fabric of our shared human experience.
The artists in this exhibition come from a variety of countries and backgrounds, and their work celebrates multicultural identities and explores a wide range of socio-cultural and political issues, such as immigration, post-colonialism, gender, and freedom. The exhibition reflects on the difficulties of living between cultures and developing an identity within borders by inviting the viewers to reflect on their own experiences of isolation, loneliness, insecurity, and vulnerability, and encourages them to develop empathy and understanding across borders.
