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Cynthia M Prescod (Mum) at Home in Primrose Hill

Photograph
1986 (photographed), 2011 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Photographer Norman ‘Normski’ Anderson was born in Camden, Northwest London in 1966. He was bought his first camera by his mother at an auction when he was nine years old and by the age of eighteen he was working as a freelance photographer. His photographs include a personal record of community life in Camden when his mother and step father were living in Primrose Hill.

Normski’s mother, Cynthia Prescod, was born in Jamaica and moved to Britain while the country was still under colonial rule. The British Nationality Act of 1948 gave British citizenship to all people of the Commonwealth, recognising their right to work and settle in the UK by providing them with British passports. By 1981, after increasing restriction on migration from the former British colonies, the act was rewritten so that only people of British citizenship acquired by birth in the UK, descent or naturalisation had the automatic right to live in Britain.

The V&A acquired seven photographs by Normski as part of the Staying Power 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.

Delve deeper

Discover more about this object
read Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience Working in partnership with Black Cultural Archives, we identified and acquired photographs taken by black photographers, or which document the lives of black people in Britain, taken between the 1950s – 90s.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleCynthia M Prescod (Mum) at Home in Primrose Hill (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silve fibre-based print.
Brief description
Photograph by Normski, 'Cynthia M Prescod (Mum) at Home in Primrose Hill', gelatin silver print, London, 1986, printed 2011
Physical description
A black and white portrait photograph of a black woman photographed face on holding a passport open, as she looks directly out of the frame. She is inside, seen from the waist up beside a floral curtain to the left of the frame while the right side of the image is in shadow. She wears earrings, rings and a collared outfit. She mirrors the photographic portrait in the passport she holds, which appears to be her own.

Dimensions
  • Image size height: 55.4cm
  • Image size width: 37.4cm
  • Paper size height: 60.6cm
  • Paper size width: 50.6cm
Style
Credit line
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Object history
The V&A acquired this photograph as part of the Staying Power 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.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Photographer Norman ‘Normski’ Anderson was born in Camden, Northwest London in 1966. He was bought his first camera by his mother at an auction when he was nine years old and by the age of eighteen he was working as a freelance photographer. His photographs include a personal record of community life in Camden when his mother and step father were living in Primrose Hill.

Normski’s mother, Cynthia Prescod, was born in Jamaica and moved to Britain while the country was still under colonial rule. The British Nationality Act of 1948 gave British citizenship to all people of the Commonwealth, recognising their right to work and settle in the UK by providing them with British passports. By 1981, after increasing restriction on migration from the former British colonies, the act was rewritten so that only people of British citizenship acquired by birth in the UK, descent or naturalisation had the automatic right to live in Britain.

The V&A acquired seven photographs by Normski as part of the Staying Power 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.
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
E108-2012

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Record createdJanuary 31, 2012
Record URL
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