Photo by Janice Duncan.
Sophia Nahli Allison is a black lesbian myth. She is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, self-portrait photographer, and artist whose work transcends time and space, activating memory as cinematic portals.
Sophia was the director, cinematographer, editor, and producer of the experimental documentary A Love Song for Latasha (Netflix 2020), which was nominated for a 2021 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. She directed and co-wrote the 2021 HBO Max special Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground and has directed national commercials for Pandora (Be Love, 2024) and Lululemon (A Woman's Foot, 2022). She was the photographer and creative director for Sleater-Kinney's 2024 album cover, Little Rope.
Sophia is the recipient of a 2025 Creative Capital Award, a 2020 USA Fellowship, and a 2014 Chicago 3Arts Award. She has held residencies at MacDowell, Black Rock Senegal, the Camargo Foundation, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, and POV Spark's African Interactive Art Residency.
She is currently developing her debut narrative feature, a surrealist lesbian love story set in the early 1900s, inspired by a rare historical photograph she acquired.
Donor -This award was generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This artist page was last updated on: 09.23.2025
Rebirth, 2018. by Sophia Nahli Allison. Self portrait from the ongoing project Dreaming Gave Us Wings.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Self Documentation, 2018. by Sophia Nahli Allison. Self portrait from the ongoing project Dreaming Gave Us Wings.
Image courtesy of the artist.
The Conjure Woman, 2017. by Sophia Nahli Allison. Self portrait from the ongoing project Dreaming Gave Us Wings.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Video Stills from Portrait of my Mother, 2016. by Sophia Nahli Allison
Images courtesy of the artist.
Trailer for A Love Song For Latasha - 2021 Academy Award Nomination, Best Documentary Short by Sophia Nahli Allison.
Video courtesy of the artist.