Adama Jalloh is a documentary and portrait photographer based in London. Her work revolves around race, identity and culture, cultivating a steady archive and ongoing conversation around the landscape of London and the transitions taking place within it. Jalloh captures moments of intimacy, honesty and vibrancy that resonate with both her own experiences as a Black woman growing up in London, and speak to her diverse audiences.

Love Story focuses on Jalloh’s relationship with aspects of her hometown, and her admiration for the beautiful subtleties she observes in Black communities. Jalloh began documenting individuals simply going about their daily lives, some in transit, while others in stillness. Chasing the light and sounds that weave in and out of the city streets became a way of leading Jalloh to moments that reveal a sense of familiarity and comfort. We see mothers and children in their best attire on a Sunday, school children owning the streets after school, teenagers running errands for their mums, or someone simply having a moment to themselves. All of these instances are deserving of elevation for Jalloh because of how closely linked they are to her own memories of growing up as the child of Sierra Leonean parents. This status as a second-generation African in the UK has contributed to Adama’s way of seeing, paying close attention to how identity is retained and passed on through cultural traditions, symbols and values. In this way, Love Story has become a way for Jalloh to identify and connect with the manifold meanings of ‘home’ to herself and those around her.

 With the rapid changes taking place across London due to gentrification, and with working-class people most impacted, the work sensitively questions what the future landscape of the city will look like, and who will it be for? Jalloh’s commitment to documenting Black communities and their environments serves as a means to preserve spaces that are under threat from neoliberal forces, and to celebrate all that working class and diaspora communities contribute to the life of a city.