Yury Toroptsov was the photographer in residence at the Jersey Photo Archives in 2014. He was born in 1974 in Vladivostok, in Russia. Toroptsov is a photographer who focuses on the common denominator for distant cultures. He looks at people and their identity and the permanence of myths. Memories, metamorphosis, profane and sacred are the recurring themes in his photographs. He currently lives and works in Paris.
During Toroptsov’s six month period in working in Jersey, he found some old videos from the Second World War of the Battle of Flowers which still went on even throughout the duration of the war.
Toroptsov was influenced by a particular float called ‘Fairyland’ which is developed in the first video on his website of the Fairyland page. This interests me as he looks deeper into Jersey and uses the Archive as a way to access the present day. This backs up what the Archisle man stated that ‘you need to understand a history to anticipate the future’. We as a community need to reflect and understand the past to move forward.
One photo in particular which I like is the one of a bench with a plague on it that says ‘In Appreciation Of Being Jersey Born – K.J.H.’. The reason I really like this image is because of the simple message that we should be proud to be Jersey born. Often people tell me that they wish they weren’t from here or that they don’t consider themselves as from here but instead from the background of where their parents are from. I am proud and happy to have been born and live in such a beautiful island. Although the island has many setbacks and is very cushioned compared to the rest of the world, I think that it has so much to offer. In the beauty of its landscapes and all the different cultures we have on the island. I like this image because it is simple yet powerful.
Michelle Sank is a South African photographer who moved to England in 1987. Sank is a social documentary photographer, with her work illuminating issues around social and cultural diversity. Sank was in Jersey for six months working on a project called ‘Insula’.
Sister Mary Agnes, Annual Pilgrimage to Elizabeth Castle
Veronica
General Sir John Chalmers McColl KCB CBE DSO Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
Edyta Jamrozy, B Team Potato Planter, Grouville
Bathers, Plemont Bay, St Ouen
Georgia, Harve Des Par swimming pool, St Clement
Cave, Plemont Bay,St Ouen
Carlo, Harve Des Par, St Clement
Re-enactment by 1781 Jersey Militia, Official Birthday Reception for Her Majesty the Queen, Government House, Jersey
Sir Michael Birt, Bailiff of Jersey
Erin and Darcy, Miss and Junior Miss Grouville 2013
Dais, Liberation Square, St Helier, Liberation Day 2013
These set of images follow the Archives of the past with photographers such as Henry Mullins who recorded his photographs in rows of four in large photo albums. This set of images shows the people of today living in Jersey and how different cultures and social classes live rather than just the higher social classes which were recorded in the past. I like these images as they can show the different personalities of the people of Jersey as well as letting the spectator in on the environment surrounding the subject.
One image which I find really interesting is the one below of Liberation Square on Liberation Day 2013. It interests me because of the Union Jack in the background because I would have actually expected to see the Jersey flag and not the British. One reason being that the Prime Mister at the time of World War II, Churchill, chose not to defend Jersey against Nazi invasion and also failed to announce that the Channel Islands were unarmed resulting in 47 innocent Jersey farmers to be shot and killed when the Germans arrived. Although, I realise that the reason the Channel Islands were liberated the day after Britain was because of the great effort the British and the Americans put into defending the rest of the world against the German Nazis.
I like this image because it shows how the people of Jersey will come together on this one day, 9th May, to celebrate the freedom and liberation of its past people and its ancestors.
Dais, Liberation Square, St Helier, Liberation Day 2013
