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Children Playing a Game, London

Photograph
1965 (photographed), 2012 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Born in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica in 1945, photographer Armet Francis moved to London at the age of ten. His photographs include images of black children, taken when he was coming to the end of his own youth. The gun disrupts this otherwise innocent scene of children at play in a lush garden. Francis continued to explore the theme of childhood in his project Children of the Black Triangle (1989), which focused on representing the lives of black children in Jamaica, Africa and Britain.

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.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleChildren Playing a Game, London (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
gelatin silver print
Brief description
Photograph by Armet Francis, 'Children Playing a Game, London', gelatin silver print, 1965, printed 2012
Physical description
A black and white photograph of two small black children in a garden with a ball at their feet. The boy holds a toy gun, the girl, with a ribbon in her hair, is wearing a skirt.
Dimensions
  • Image width: 254mm
  • Image height: 259mm
  • Paper width: 305mm
  • Paper height: 406mm
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
Place depicted
Summary
Born in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica in 1945, photographer Armet Francis moved to London at the age of ten. His photographs include images of black children, taken when he was coming to the end of his own youth. The gun disrupts this otherwise innocent scene of children at play in a lush garden. Francis continued to explore the theme of childhood in his project Children of the Black Triangle (1989), which focused on representing the lives of black children in Jamaica, Africa and Britain.

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.
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
E.107-2013

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Record createdOctober 5, 2013
Record URL
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