FrancisKnight, in collaboration with Tom Pearman, is developing a comprehensive public art strategy for the Harrow View East development on the former Kodak factory site in Harrow, London. This strategy responds to Section 106 (S106) planning obligations, embedding meaningful public art within the emerging residential neighbourhood.

At the centre of the proposal is a large-scale sculptural work inspired by the Kodak Instamatic series of cameras. The Instamatic range represented Kodak’s pioneering approach to making photography simple, accessible, and affordable to the general public, an ethos that underpins the narrative of the sculpture. MORE

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME

In August 2024, an initial artist led workshop took place at Harrow Arts Centre, where Tom ran an activity aimed at emerging artists and creatives looking to explore public art.

In 2025, Tom worked with the Community and Cultural Services team at Harrow Arts Centre to deliver a comprehensive community engagement programme curated by FrancisKnight. This engagement programme ran from May – September 2025 and included creative workshops with Tom where participants could meet him and learn more about his artistic practice. Visuals of his proposed designs were presented and discussed and workshop activities encouraged experimentation on the concept of a camera and its various components.

These workshops created opportunities for open consultation on Tom’s concept design proposals and helped to inform his design development of the artworks for Harrow View East. All the events were free to encourage participation. 2

4th May 2025 – Abstract Camera a creative workshop for artists and creatives held at Harrow Arts Centre.

2nd June 2025 – Cardboard Camera aimed at young adults held at Harrow College, Weald Campus

“Really enjoyed seeing the old Kodak cameras and learning a bit about the history. Creating my own artwork and seeing everyone else’s was inspirational. Tom was a great workshop lead.” – Student from Harrow College

May – Sept 2025 – A mentoring opportunity with Tom Pearman was also offered to an early career artist and local artist Eleanor Smith took part. The tailored programme of 6 sessions focused on professional development and developing an artist’s profile. Through the sessions Eleanor met with Tom and worked on creating her own website, artist’s statement, bio and visuals of her artwork to date. The mentorship is ongoing and continues through a series of one to one / online meetings.

“I value both the prospect of learning and improving my art and its impact on the community. I also value the prospect of receiving insight from someone on what it actually means to work professionally in the art industry. “ Eleanor Smith

Tom’s final artist workshop took place in July 2025 at Headstone Manor & Museum with former Kodak employees. Tom invited participants to share their photographs and memories of the Harrow Kodak factory with the view that some of the images would influence the Wall Mounted artworks at Harrow View East.

‘Hi Tom, I documented the Kodak Harrow Site, people, buildings and equipment during the last week of production. I have a file containing low- res images of all the pictures I took. If you think any may be useful to your project, please let me know and I can supply high resolution versions. Best regards Dr Tony Kaye ASIS FRPS’