Armet Francis’ photographs include a personal record of British Caribbean life in the 1960s and 1970s. The sitting room or ‘front room’ was a central feature of the British Caribbean experience for many in this period. The room was a place of display, where a range of modern furnishings were placed alongside photographs of family life and items with a Caribbean influence. The eclectic style of the front room became more extravagantly decorated into the 1970s, as settled Caribbean families became more affluent. These spaces became an articulation of emerging black British traditions.

The V&A acquired nine photographs by Armet Francis as part of the Staying Power project. Photographs by his contemporaries Neil Kenlock and Charlie Phillips were also acquired as part of the project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.