Sophia Nahli Allison is a Black lesbian myth. She is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, self-portrait photographer, and artist from South Central Los Angeles. Her work traverses time and space, activating memory as cinematic portals.
She was the director, cinematographer, editor, and co-producer of the experimental documentary A Love Song for Latasha (Netflix, 2020), which was nominated for a 2021 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. She directed and co-wrote HBO Max's Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground (2021) 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 album cover, Little Rope (2024).
Sophia is the recipient of a 2025 Creative Capital Award and a 2020 USA Fellowship. She has been awarded artist residencies at MacDowell, Black Rock Senegal, the Camargo Foundation, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, and POV Spark's African Interactive Art Residency in collaboration with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture.
She continues to explore the liminal space between reality and dreams, memory and illusion, and the inner poetics of Black women and queerness.
During her Fellowship at MacDowell, Sophia worked on several essays to accompany Dreaming Gave Us Wings. The project has received support from a Women Photograph + Nikon grant.
