Francesca Iovene is an independent photographer with a background in architecture. She studied in Chile and Italy, graduating from the Polytechnic University of Milan. During her studies, she became more interested in the representation of architecture than in its design, which led her to photography. She has since worked primarily between Milan and Berlin, where she lived until 2023. She is now based in Milan and works worldwide.

Her work investigates the relationship between architecture, memory, and perception, focusing on the subjective ways in which reality is experienced. She is interested in how space changes when seen through personal perception, shaped by memory and infused with atmosphere. Through photography, she offers a perspective that goes beyond representation, opening a more intimate way of relating to places.

Her photographs have appeared in major publications such as Domus, Abitare, The Plan, Monocle, The Architectural Review and The New York Times Magazine. She has also exhibited her work in significant events, including the Triennale di Milano (2018), Brescia. Visions for a Present Future as part of the Italian Capital of Culture (2023), and exhibitions organized by the Foundation of the Order of Architects, such as Milan. Contemporary 1950s (2023), curated by Tenet Arch, and Milan and the Universities (2024), curated by OAMi Foundation. She participated in Fotografia alla Carriera. A Tribute of Italian Photography to the Masters of the Compasso d’Oro (2024), curated by Giovanni Chiaramonte and Michele Nastasi at the ADI Museum.

Iovene has also taken part in several artist residencies, including Falía* Artists In Residence, curated by Alice Vangelisti, and Mulattiere Acquasanta, curated by Ikonemi. These residencies led to site-specific projects like Sedimenta (2018), a taxonomic study of the village of Lozio (BS), and Elviro (2021), an exploration of the concept of home in the Acquasanta Terme area (AP).

Her collaborations with various institutions and publishers include documenting contemporary Genoese architecture with Sagep Editori (2020–2024) and contributing to the Digital Library Project on Calabria’s cultural heritage, in collaboration with the Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation (ICCD), under Italy’s Ministry of Culture (2021–2022).

In 2024, Iovene contributed photographic essays to two important publications: Experimental Attitude. Robaldo Morozzo della Rocca by Stefano Passamonti (Quart Verlag) and Milan and the Universities (Simona Galateo and OAMi Foundation). In 2025, she published her project on the Roman palazzina and the EUR district in Riabitare Roma | Revivre Rome, curated by IT’S Architettura and published by Letteraventidue.

Iovene has lectured at institutions such as the Polytechnic University of Milan, the University of Genoa, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, and Kansas State University. In 2024, she served as a juror for the Beta Awards at the Beta Architecture Biennale in Timișoara, and previously for the AFA – Architecture Film Award at the Milan Design Film Festival.

Quotes

"Francesca’s work is deeply attuned to the singular and fleeting nature of perception. It’s an exploratory art that investigates both spaces and the ways we relate to them. Each photograph is a state of mind, an inner movement seeking familiarity and a sense of home."
— Serena Marchionni (Ikonemi), from the text for the exhibition Mulattiere Acquasanta – Fotograf* in Residenza at Forte Malatesta, Ascoli Piceno, 2021

"Her photographs convey a sense of monumentality, where monuments are understood as 'memory.' Through a thematic interplay of 'ruin and monument,' her work reveals a metaphysical and surreal timelessness."
— Patrizia Pisaniello & Saverio Pisaniello (MICROSCAPE architecture urban design AA), from the text for the book Citywords 05, Ed. BLURB, 2022