Whose Archive is it Anyway?

An archive is something I had only encountered this year – I had never looked or even come across an archive before the start of year twelve, however, I am now fully aware of their purpose and function. I find this crazy that I had never come across the archive that Jersey holds after seventeen years of living on the island, and, with such a rich history, there is such a vast amount to document on the islands history – which archives such as Société Jersiaise and Jersey Archive from Jersey Heritage do so well. I am now very eager to research into the concept more and hopefully use and expand my own archive of my own life to benefit my progress through year twelve. An archive like the Société Jersiaise was founded in 1893 by a number of prominent islanders who were interested in the study of its history, its language and antiques, so set up the program, in order to aid their knowledge – in-turn helping islanders of today understand Jersey in more depth, and I, for one, am thankful for this.

The official definition of an archive, taken from Google, is ‘a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.’  Synonyms of the word include records, accounts, papers, documents, files and history. In my opinion, history being the most important or one that stands out most – because an archive essentially holds history of a location or of someone. An archive can be a document, a certificate of birth, an image from several centuries ago or an object that holds significance to someone. I really like the idea of an object holding much importance to someone, because, for me, there is something very pleasing about having something physical to touch because all our sense can play a part in remembering specific moments of your life and an object can bring back much nostalgia for someone – I know it does for me anyway! This is perhaps why so many photographers nowadays create a photobook, or in fact several photobooks because it is much more pleasing to have your work physically published for people to look at and then keep.

My mum has kept, since I was a little child, even a baby, a memory box or what we like to call my ‘special box’ as it holds all the things that relate to the special moments in my life and therefore, my mum and dad’s life. This box contains objects such as my first pair of shoes, my birth certificate, pieces of artwork I completed when I was child at nursery and my first strands of hair etc. This takes its place in the loft for whenever I or my family feel like they wish to reminisce about thoughts that bring back happy memories – not away to be forgotten forever – it is in there for security, which I feel is something very important with photos – because touching something physical can give you a warm feeling – in my instance, love. So, we all have our own archives, whether they’re public, social or personal, we all have our own documentation of our life and it can be digitally on our phones or physically but in any instance, it can be used to bring people together as I feel photography is a strong concept that has the potential to act as a cohesion tool between the people we love. Actions are so quick – they happen and then they’re gone but taking a picture of a simple action provides a snap shot that can be kept forever.

I have made a short video to accompany this essay. It consists of me talking to my mum, almost interviewing her and asking a her few questions about my memory box and why she started it in the first place. The video is intended to give you more of an insight into our archive and why it exists. My mum reiterates throughout that she has kept all the photos from my childhood as well as special objects for me to look back at when I’m older – this idea sticks with me strongly and my mum emphasizes it constantly. She also said that “if you have ever had children of your own, you can compare what you looked like when you were a child to what they look like”. This notion that I can carry this idea of documenting my whole life through to when I grow up and have kids of my own is very true and encompasses the whole being of what an archive is – is that it is supposed to provide a place where memories and nostalgia can live long in the memory of people to then compare and contrast different lives from a completely different decade or even centuries. My mum also said that she took the photographs of me when I was child on an old film camera, which is what they had back in those days – they did not have digital DSLR cameras so used disposable ones where you would get the film developed. However, this introduction of digital cameras has sparked interest in photographic practices and it is now becoming more and more sought after to take up as a hobby. Although with the introduction of high quality, expensive, technological cameras, there has been a recent boost in the use of disposable and vintage film cameras again in order to take photos that give a sense of nostalgia through the effect they have on the images you take once developed – this is achieved through the colours and textures of graininess. Sticking to the idea of technological advancement, David Bates’, in his book Art Photography states that the ‘awareness of historical accumulation of photographic archives has expanded expositional since the invention of the internet’. I believe this is very true because with the endless possibilities of the internet, things such as photo sharing is ever so easy and can be argues that it almost too easy but is hugely beneficial.

I wish to make the most of my personal archive and look through it as much as I can in order to get a better sense of my own life and the life of people surrounding me. I am aware that also my grandparents have left their own photobooks from when they were younger documenting their life and as they grew older to become fathers and mothers to my mum etc. It is evident that archival imagery can be passed through many generations of family members and the all link us together to create a cohesion – like I mentioned before. However, an idea I am really keen to pursue over the course of this next year relates to how my life on Jersey for seventeen years differs to that of my younger sister, of four years. I am lucky enough to have a sibling and even luckier, in my opinion, that she is thirteen years younger than I am. I think this is amazing and I think it would create a perfect project for me to carry out for my personal study by looking at archives from when I was younger in comparison to what my sister has experienced. This is how I will look at archival imagery to enhance and enrich my experience throughout the A2 course. I have no intention of focusing heavily on public archives of Jersey because this won’t relate to what I want to study – being a personal archive between myself and my family. I think there is something mesmerizing about old photos from when I was a child to see what I actually got up to if I can’t remember certain things. I think it will be interesting to see how her life as a child differs from mine – even more so because we have been raised by different mothers because my sister is on my dad’s side after my mum and dad divorced and my dad found another partner. What I have also noticed whenever I go to see my sister, is that she obsessed with Snapchat on my pone and the filters it offers – she is fascinated by them and looking though photos of me and what I get up to. I believe this will make the project a lot more interesting.

All in all, however, every archive in the world functions in the same way – in that it intends to provide a rich documentation of the history of someone or something whether it be place or a person. In my opinion, I find personal archive, carried on throughout many generations much more interesting than public ones’ due to the fact that they are so much more intimate and mean so much more when you look at them.

What I have earned from archives is that they are such a useful tool for anyone who wants to discover more about themselves and they can essentially work as a family tree. Archives provide an open door for endless possibilities to re-create and re-live memories you may have partially forgotten about and the nostalgia that comes with archives, more so for the older generation of Jersey due to how influential Jersey was in the 20^th century, can spark new emptions they may not have experienced in a long time.

To answer the question Whose Archive Is It Anyway? – I don’t know, you decide. Maybe it’s all of our archives because each and every one may lead back to the same place or have a link in some way. My archive holds much food for thought and I know that I will be utilizing it fully and my memory box is my archive but the wonderful thing, I want to share it with people – archives can be shared, and therefore instantly becomes a personal archive to other people.