Armet Francis

Armet Francis was born in Saint Elizabeth Parish, in rural Jamaica, in 1945. He was left in the care of his grandparents at the age of three when his parents moved to London, England, where Francis joined them seven years later in 1955. Interviewed for the British Library's Oral History of British Photography, Francis spoke of growing up as the only black child in a school in London Docklands.[https://www.bl.uk/voices-of-science/britishlibrary/~/media/subjects%20images/oral%20history/oral%20history%20and%20nls%20documents/nls_ar_2013-2014_final%20version.pdf "Oral history at the British Library: what else has been happening?"], National Life Stories: Review and Accounts 2013/2014, British Library, p. 7. After leaving school at 14, he worked for an engineering firm in Bromley, before finding a job as an assistant in a West End photographic studio, and going on to forge a career as a freelance photographer for fashion magazines and advertising campaigns.

He has said: "In 1969 I embarked on a lifetime project.... I was living and working in the first world, materially that is, but becoming more aware of inequalities to the third world, to be more specific the Black World. As a Black photographer I started to realise I had no social documentary images in my work.... I went back [to Jamaica] in 1969.... I had been away 14 years, it would take another 14 years to make sense of this project."[http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=13205 "Biographies: Photo Evolution 2000"], Artslink.co.za, 18 August 2000. Following his participation at Festac '77 (the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture)[http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=147&table=artefacts "Festac '77 – Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 1977"], Diaspora Artists. in Lagos, Nigeria, he became devoted to photographing the people of the African diaspora.

He became the first Black photographer to have a solo exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery in London when The Black Triangle series was exhibited there in 1983. He published a book also entitled The Black Triangle the following year, and Children of the Black Triangle was produced four years later. He was a contributing photographer in the survey issue of Ten.8 vol. 2, no. 3, 1992, titled Critical Decade: Black British Photography in the 80s.{{Cite web|url=http://new.diaspora-artists.net/display_item.php?id=828&table=artefacts|title=Critical Decade: Black British Photography in the 80s|last=|first=|date=|website=new.diaspora-artists.net|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}

In 1988, Francis was a co-founder of the Association of Black Photographers (now Autograph ABP). He was the official photographer for Africa '05, a major celebration of African arts held throughout 2005 in the UK.{{cite web|author-link=Molara Wood|first=Molara|last=Wood|url=https://molarawood.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html |title=roots to reckoning|date=26 February 2006|access-date=20 April 2025}}Siobhan Silbert, [http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/hackney-today-179.pdf "Past in photos"], Hackney Today, Issue 179, 10 March 2008, p. 21. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830201728/http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/hackney-today-179.pdf |date=30 August 2012 }}. Francis was one of three pioneering Jamaican-born photographers – the others being Charlie Phillips and Neil Kenlock – whose work was showcased in the 2005/2006 exhibition Roots to Reckoning at the Museum of London,Kate Smith, [http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/photography-and-film/art30813 "Black History Month 2005 – From Roots To Reckoning In Photos"], Culture24, 30 September 2005. which in 2009 with the assistance of Art Fund acquired the "Roots to Reckoning archive", comprising 90 photographs of London's black community from the 1960s to the 1980s.{{cite web|first=Qiana|last=Mestrich|url=https://dodgeburnphoto.com/2014/06/afro-caribbeans-in-uk-roots-to-reckoning-photo-archive-at-the-museum-of-london/ |title=Afro-Caribbeans in UK: Roots to Reckoning Photo Archive at the Museum of London|website=Dodge & Burn|date=17 June 2014|access-date=20 April 2025}}

The British Library conducted an interview (C459/214) with Francis in 2013 for its Oral History of British Photography collection.[http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/photography/021M-C0459X0214XX-0001V0 "Photography | Francis, Armet (1 of 6) Oral History of British Photography"], The British Library, 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2018.

Photographs by Francis featured prominently in Staying Power, the collaborative project mounted in 2015 by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Black Cultural Archives.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/45fKwWl8klXrBfcHpqH7kVc/staying-power-photographs-of-black-british-experience-1950s-1990s "Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s–1990s"], BBC, 16 February 2015.{{cite news|author-link=Sean O'Hagan (journalist)|first=Sean|last=O'Hagan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/16/black-british-struggle-triumph-v-and-a-staying-power |title=Black, British and proud: 50 years of struggle and triumph|newspaper=The Guardian|date= 16 February 2015}}[https://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2015/02/16/staying-power-exhibition "Staying Power"], Art Fund. "The arresting first image in the V&A museum is Jamaican photographer Armet Francis's Self-portrait in Mirror (1964), a curiously intimate and honest image showing Armet setting up his shot directly in front of a mirror," noted the reviewer for Culture Whisper,[http://www.culturewhisper.com/r/article/preview/3774 "Insider's Guide: Staying Power, V&A"], Culture Whisper, while Brennavan Sritharan commented in the British Journal of Photography: "Self-portraiture is something of a sub-theme, with Armet Francis' tender yet assertive self-portrait leading the exhibit."{{cite magazine|first=Brennavan|last=Sritharan|url=https://www.1854.photography/2015/04/staying-power-photographs-of-black-british-experience-1950s-1990s-review/ |title=Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s–1990s – Review|magazine=British Journal of Photography|date=9 April 2015|access-date=20 April 2025}}

In February 2022, Francis was named in CasildART's list of the top six Black British photographers, alongside Charlie Phillips, James Barnor, Neil Kenlock, Pogus Caesar and Vanley Burke.{{cite web|url=https://casildart.com/blog/top-six-black-british-photographers-you-should-know|title=Top Six Black British Photographers You Should Know|website=CasildART|date=7 February 2022|access-date=16 April 2022}}

In 2023, Autograph ABP mounted the exhibition Armet Frances: Beyond the Black Triangle (on show from 22 September 2023 to 20 January 2024), curated by Mark Sealy.{{cite web|url=https://autograph.org.uk/exhibitions/armet-francis-beyond-the-black-triangle|title=Armet Francis: Beyond The Black Triangle|publisher=Autograph|access-date=20 April 2025}} Bringing together four decades of work by Francis, it was described in a review by Aesthetica magazine as "an incisive and impressive display that emphasises: Francis is one of the greats."{{cite magazine|url=https://aestheticamagazine.com/armet-francis-reimagining-the-black-triangle/|title=Armet Francis: Reimagining The Black Triangle|magazine=Aesthetica|first=Shyama|last=Laxman|date=26 September 2023|access-date=20 April 2025}}

• The Black Triangle: People of the African Diaspora, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 1983
• Armet Frances: Beyond the Black Triangle, Autograph ABP, London (22 September 2023 – 20 January 2024)

• Reflections of the Black Experience: 10 Black Photographers, Brixton Art Gallery, London, 1986{{cite web|url=https://brixton50.co.uk/black-experience-photographers/|title=Reflections of the Black Experience – 10 Black Photographers|website=Brixton 50|access-date=27 February 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.buru.org.uk/record.php?id=1175|title=Armet Francis artist|publisher=Ben Uri Research Unit|access-date=27 February 2022}}
• Transforming the Crown: African, Asian & Caribbean artists in Britain, 1966–1996, Caribbean Cultural Center, Studio Museum in Harlem, 1997; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, 1997{{Cite web|url =http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=8932|title =Francis, Armet|website =aavad.com African American Visual Artists Database|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150928175507/http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=8932|archive-date =28 September 2015|url-status =dead|df =dmy-all}}
• Roots to Reckoning: the photography of Armet Francis, Neil Kenlock and Charlie Phillips, Museum of London, London, 2005/6
• Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s – 1990s, Black Cultural Archives, London, 2015; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2015
• Get Up, Stand Up Now, Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House London, 2019{{Cite web|date=2019-01-31|title=Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers|url=https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/press/get-stand-now-generations-black-creative-pioneers|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Somerset House|language=en}}
• Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s–Now, Tate Britain, 2021/2022{{cite web |last1=Cumming |first1=Laura |title=Life Between Islands review – a mind-altering portrait of British Caribbean life through art |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/dec/05/life-between-islands-tate-britain-caribbean-british-art-1950s-to-now-review-a-crucial-mind-altering-show |website=The Guardian |date=5 December 2021|access-date=31 December 2021}}

• The Black Triangle: The People of the African Diaspora. Seed, 1985. {{ISBN|978-0951059814}}
• Children of the Black Triangle. Africa World, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0865431300}}

• Counting in Rhymes. Seed, 1990. {{ISBN|9780951059845}}. Coordinated and edited by Francis and Olga Graham.
• Carnival Time. Seed, 1990. {{ISBN|9780951059852}}

• Roots to Reckoning – photos by Armet Francis, Neil Kenlock, Charlie Phillips. Seed, 2005. Exhibition catalogue with introduction by Mike Phillips. {{ISBN|0-95105-988-2}}

Works by Francis are held in the following public collections:

• Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 25 prints (as of October 2018){{cite web|access-date=30 October 2018|title=Your Search Results|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=&extrasearch=&q=Francis%252C+Armet%252C&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&before=&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch=|website=collections.vam.ac.uk}}{{cite news|access-date=30 October 2018|title= Photographic Brilliance|url=http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/photographic-brilliance/|newspaper=Aesthetica Magazine|date=13 June 2017}}
• Museum of London, London{{cite web|url=http://www.artfund.org/news/2009/10/01/important-afro-caribbean-photographic-archive-acquired-for-museum-of-london-with-art-fund-help|title=Important Afro-Caribbean photographic archive acquired for Museum of London with Art Fund help|date=1 October 2009|website=Art Fund|access-date=12 July 2015}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.armetfrancis.co.uk/ Official website]
• [https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/staying-power-photographs-of-black-british-experience "Armet Francis"], V & A.

• Miss Rosen, [https://www.blind-magazine.com/news/the-black-triangle-of-armet-francis/ {{"'}}The Black Triangle' of Armet Francis"], Blind Magazine, 23 November 2023.

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Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century British photographers

Category:21st-century British photographers

Category:Black British history

Category:Black British photographers

Category:Documentary photographers

Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom

Category:Jamaican photographers

Category:Photographers from London

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