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Past event
Mark Sealy and Gary Younge discuss photographer Armet Francis’ significant contributions to British culture over the past forty years
Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK
For more than four decades, the Jamaican-British photographer Armet Francis has made it his mission to document the African diaspora. At this event - coinciding with Beyond the Black Triangle, Autograph’s exhibition of Francis’ work - curator Mark Sealy will be in conversation with author and journalist Gary Younge. Together they will discuss how joy, resilience and resistance underpin Francis’ work and expand on the significance of Francis’ contributions to British culture. Following the conversation, Armet Francis will share his personal experience of making the photographs after which there will be an opportunity to view the exhibition.
Francis’ exhibition commences a year-long celebration highlighting Autograph’s ongoing commitment to curate and preserve the legacy of practitioners such as Francis, who was a founding signatory of Autograph back in 1988.
The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.
22 Sep 2023 - 20 Jan 2024
Chronicling the lives of people of the African diaspora for over 40 years
Gary Younge is an award-winning author, broadcaster and a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester in England. Formerly a columnist at The Guardian he is an editorial board member of the Nation magazine, the Alfred Knobler Fellow for Type Media and winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Journalism.
He has written six books: Dispatches From the Diaspora, From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter; Another Day in the Death of America, A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives; The Speech, The Story Behind Martin Luther King’s Dream; Who Are We?, And Should it Matter in the 21st century; Stranger in a Strange Land, Travels in the Disunited States and No Place Like Home, A Black Briton’s Journey Through the Deep South. He has also written for The New York Review of Books, Granta, GQ, The Financial Times and The New Statesman and made several radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from gay marriage to Brexit.
Dr Mark Sealy OBE, RPS Outstanding Service Award; Executive Director of Autograph (1991 -) and Professor, Photography, Rights and Representation at University Arts London - London College of Communication. Sealy is interested in the relationship between art, photography and social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He gained his PhD from Durham University, England.
He has written for many of the world’s leading photographic journals, produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide. In addition, he is an advisor (management + committees) to several leading cultural institutions, including Tate, Paul Mellon Centre for the Studies in British Art, Art Fund, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, World Press Photo, and the International Centre of Photography in New York, USA.
Lawrence and Wishart have published Sealy’s critical writings on photography. Photography: Race, Rights and Representation, published 2022 and Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time, published 2019.
Armet Francis (born 1945, Jamaica) is best known for his social documentary, advertising, and fashion images. He began working in a commercial photographic studio as a teenager, going on to forge a career shooting commissions for holiday camps, and assignments for The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times, BBC and Channel 4 amongst others.
His early images offer a personal record of the world around him, capturing the essence of black British identity; in 1969 he began his now celebrated project The Black Triangle: People of the African Diaspora and Children of the Black Triangle.
Francis’s works have been shown in exhibitions including Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s-Now, Tate Britain (2021); Get Up, Stand Up Now! Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House (2019); In a Different Light: New Acquisitions, Autograph, London (2017); Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s-1990s, Black Cultural Archives and V&A (2015); Roots to Reckoning: The Photography of Armet Francis, Neil Kenlock and Charlie Phillips, Museum of London (2005); Reflections of the Black Experience: 10 Black Photographers, Brixton Art Gallery (1986); Armet Francis: The Black Triangle Series: People of the African Diaspora, The Photographers' Gallery (1983); Armet Francis, Commonwealth Institute (1974) amongst others.
His works are held in public collections including Autograph, British Library, Museum of London, Science Museum Group and the Victoria and Albert Museum amongst others.
Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.
Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities
Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors
This event will be seated
This event will take place in Gallery 1
Introducing Autograph’s new exhibition by Armet Francis
Read blog post | 5 min read
A critical intervention giving names to the faces of those who journeyed on the historic Windrush voyage
ViewProfessor Mark Sealy discusses the photographs of Armet Francis
Read blog post | 3 min readCapturing the diverse community around the London borough of Lambeth in 1994
ViewFive moments reflected upon in the Beyond The Black Triangle exhibition
Read blog post | 5 min read The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.
Autograph's events are popular, and often sell out. We recommend booking a ticket in advance. If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 24 hours before the start of the event. You do not need to bring your paper ticket to the event.
Banner image: Armet Francis, Black Church [detail], London, 1980. From the series The Black Triangle. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Images on page: 1) Armet Francis, Fashion Shoot, Brixton Market [detail], London, 1973. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London. 2) Gary Younge. Photograph by Cian Oba-Smith. 3) Mark Sealy, courtesy of Steve Pyke. 4) Visit us: Autograph, photograph by Zoë Maxwell.
Autograph is a place to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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