Francesca Hummler (b. 1997) is a German-American visual artist and researcher working with photography currently based between London, England and San Diego, California. She received her B.A. in Media Arts and B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego in 2019. She earned a Master's in Photography with distinction for her dissertation, "American Identity and Photographic Healing ", 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 utilises self-portraiture to untangle her sense of self. She often expands her therapeutic practices to photograph others collaboratively.
In 2021 she was selected as one of the laureates of the Carte Blanche Étudiants award 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. 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. In May 2023, she had her first solo in Erlangen, Germany, quickly followed by her second solo show in London in September 2023 as a part of the Deptford X Festival. Her series “Das Kuckucksei” or “The Cuckoo's Egg” was published in the January 2024 issue of Artforum magazine. Francesca's recent solo exhibition, "Rituals & Reliquaries”, was held in the Crypt Gallery in London in October 2024.
Unsere puppenstube (Our Dollhouse) Series from 2021
Entrance, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Die Krippe, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Der Stammbaum, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Playroom, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Fusing, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Das Badezimmer, A3+, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Victory, A2, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Archival Pigment Prints, Edition of 10 + 2AP
Francesca’s practice traces the spectral contours of familial memory, staging an encounter between inherited histories and lived experience. A key example is her negotiation of religious obligation and the gendered scripts that accompany it—legacies inscribed not only in doctrine, but in gestures and silent expectations. Raised within a German-immigrant family steeped in religious tradition, she was tempted to engage critically with the past, prompted by a distinct vantage point shaped by evolving cultural attitudes and expanding conversations on identity.