Background
Armet Francis was born in Street Elizabeth, in rural Jamaica.
Armet Francis was born in Street Elizabeth, in rural Jamaica.
He has been documenting and chronicling the lives of people of the African diaspora for more than 40 years and his assignments have included work for The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Supplement, British Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 4. He has exhibited worldwide and his work is in collections including those of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Museum of London. 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 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 in 1969. I had been away 14 years, it would take another 14 years to make sense of this project" Following his participation at Festac "77 (the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture) 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 when The Black Triangle series was exhibited there in 1983.
He was the official photographer for Africa "05, a major celebration of African arts held throughout 2005 in the United Kingdom. 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. Photographs by Francis featured prominently in Staying Power, the collaborative project mounted in 2015 by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Black Cultural Archives. Selected exhibitions 1983: The Black Triangle: People of the African Diaspora at The Photographers" Gallery, London.
Seed.
Seed. Seed. Seed.