Frankie Mills

Frankie Mills is a documentary photographer and photojournalist based in London, UK. 

Frankie’s photography explores how people create a sense of belonging, especially within displaced and marginalised communities, and the universal aspects of human need.

“Good Evening, We Are From Ukraine” is Frankie’s first long-form project. It documents Ukrainian refugees' first two years of life in the village of Moorhaven, Devon, UK following Russia's invasion. Previously, Frankie has photographed women fleeing Iran in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death, the Uyghur diaspora in Norway’s Arctic Circle, and life in an abandoned Greek primary school used as a shelter by families fleeing the Middle East. 

Frankie’s work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery as a finalist in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. She was shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 and won OpenWalls Arles and Portrait of Britain Vol. 6. She has shot for the New York Times, Guardian, Coda Story, Zeit, and others. She began her career working as a staff photojournalist for DevonLive, a local paper in the Southwest of England, where she specialised in human interest features about hidden communities. 

Frankie is a self-taught photographer. She graduated with a Master’s in International Journalism from City University and attended the 2023 Eddie Adams Workshop.


Featured

15/07/24: "We Have to Live Now’: Stories of a Home Out of Reach," New York Times

03/03/24: "'This was their home too': Frankie Mills's intimate portraits of Ukrainian refugees in the UK" The Guardian 

08/01/24: "Portrait of Britain Vol.6 winners: Capturing the tapestry of life in Britain" British Journal of Photography 

18/10/23:  "Picturing Displacement Symposium" The Martin Parr Foundation 

17/10/23: "Frankie Mills talks about 'Good Evening, We Are from Ukraine"  Counterpoints Arts 

01/10/23: "Refugee festival comes to Bristol to challenge perceptions" BBC

15/08/23: "Would I lie to you? Images that speak the truth - in pictures" The Guardian 

15/08/23: "Photography awards: Open Walls Arles 2023" The Times 

15/06/23: "Announcing The Winners of Arles OpenWalls" British Journal of Photography 

Photo Assignments 

07/12/23: "Green Colonialism" Noema Mag

07/12/23: In the Swedish Arctic, a battle for the climate rages Coda Story

27/07/23: "The Secret Movement Bringing Back Europe’s Wildlife" Noema Mag 

25/10/23: "The ferries of Istanbul: a day at the crossroads of Europe and Asia" Guardian

15/03/22: "‘We’ll kill you’: Uyghur exile who fled to Arctic Circle still fears reach of Chinese state" Guardian 

15/03/22: "China’s crackdown on Uyghurs reaches the Arctic" CodaStory 

23/10/22: "The battle over space emissions in Cornwall" Al Jazeera 

25/07/19: "Beirut's Underground Drag Scene is Fighting Back" HuckMag

31/01/19: "A Year in the Life of an Athens Refugee Squat" HuckMag

07/09/19: "Stop DSEI: the People Disrupting the ‘World-Leading’ Arms Fairs" NovaraMedia

10/10/2018: "Division and Disparity on the streets of Mexico City" HuckMag

24/02/2017: "The Central American Refugees Behind Trump's Border Wall" International Press Foundation