Both photographers I was lucky enough to meet  (Tanja Deman and Jonny Briggs) adopt the ‘surrealist’ approach to their photography despite the artists having different meanings and approaches.

What is surrealism?

“a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.”

Avant – garde developed in the mid 1800’s as artists produced more radical or unorthodox work which opposed mainstream society and inverted social expectations.

The driving point behind selecting the study of surrealism is the focus on the inversion of society’s expectations as photographs should be iconic and recognisable. The unique nature of the art genre allows a dynamic approach and there is no limits, an exciting factor. For me, the surrealist images I’ve studied are amongst the most interesting I’ve viewed since my thorough study of the subject.

A photographer who followed the surrealism criteria who lived locally from 1937 until her death in 1954 was Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob or more commonly known as, “Claude Cahun”.

Here is the Final Image from the shoot.

The Société Jersiaise is a local archive available to Jersey CI as well as collecting information and images of other Channel Islands such as Alderney, Guernsey and Sark. It is accessed by a website:

http://societe-jersiaise.org/ 

The Société Jersiaise was founded in January 1873 by a small number of prominent Islanders who were interested in the study of the history, the language and the antiquities of Jersey. The main aim of Société Jersiaise is to preserve the history of the island for both tourists and locals. This shows how the island has changed and developed over time. They hold over 80,000 archival imagery dating back to 1840’s to more current images.

On Tuesday 13th of June we visited Société Jersiaise to learn about the archive and work with 2 photographers Jonny Briggs and Tanja Deman, who are are contemporary, cutting edge artists that use photographic techniques as a vehicle to explore the themes of Family and Environment. They also use archival imagery as an integral part of their practice, and cross reference psychology, psycho-analysis and philosophy too. The two artists are very different in the way they work, so at first I was unsure what to expect and take from the experience.

I learnt about how A2 photography was more about the meaning and background knowledge to your idea or concept. I realised this after our mini workshop with Jonny Briggs, who spoke about his background as a child growing up and how this then provides meaning to his photographs he now creates. I also learnt about achieves, which I were not really aware of, through the mini workshop with Tanja Deman and Karen Biddlecombe. This showed me that I could explore different types of media to use in my photographic work and to broaden my knowledge of Jerseys past as well as my own family archive.

What is an archive?

A collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institutions, or a group of people.

JONNY BRIGGS

http://www.jonnybriggs.com/

Jonny is a London born photographer, who has a different approach to the world of photography.  All of his fine art photography has an underlying meaning, which is mostly relate to his family.  Jonny spoke about his difficult relation with his father as his father struggled with a mental disorder, which made it hard for them to have a ‘normal’ father and son relationship. He revealed that at the beginning he did not like photography but felt he was drawn to it for this reason, the idea of being attracted to something that repulses you.

Jonny gave us the task to reconstruct an image that had been taken from the archive and we had to change the image to make it our own and we also had to provide an explanation to why we reconstructed it this way. This was my take on his task:

My reasoning behind this is it is supposed to show how the soldiers in the war did not leave the same person as they went in there as. I ripped his face, not completely but slightly revealing the pattern underneath the photo. This is supposed to represent their loss of identity and the damage they will be experiences not just physically but also mentally so this represents that their minds will never be the same after what they experienced.

I enjoyed Jonny’s workshop the most as it was the most interesting and I liked how there was always a meaning behind his photographs.

Tanja Deman

http://www.tanja-deman.com/

Tanja Deman is a contemporary artist working in the medium of photography, college and public art. Her art is inspired by her interest in the perception of space, physical and emotional connection to a place and her relationship to nature. She spoke to us about the images she had been looking at on the archives, which inspired her work to produce a project on the island of Jersey.

Tanja gave us a task to take 2 photos of ugly building in St.Helier, using the archives to help us decide where we wanted to go to take photos. These are my 2 photographs I took:

I felt this image was an ugly as the colours are faded and dull. The wall itself is clearly worn out, with crumbling scratches and marks showing disrepair, making it look extremely tacky and deteriorated. The metal bars remind me of sell bars in a prison or some sort of cage bars, behind the bars are pitch black, which empathises how the picture looks dull and worn out.

I chose this photograph as an ugly photograph because the tall buliding itself is ugly, repetitive and tedious. There are small black square repeated in rows in a basic shape of a rectangle, there is nothing exciting or attractive about this building. This is contrasted with the beautiful clouds in the rich blue sky as this is classed as a pretty sight.

London born photographer Jonny Briggs adopts a dynamic approach to his work so as his work may all have a similar yet deep underlying meaning, the productions are all very unique and different from one another. Briggs hosted a presentation for us to experience and enjoy all his work, which he bases on his family ordeals, particularly how he lived in his sister’s overriding shadows as well as focusing on his struggling relationship with this father. Not only was the delivery of the presentation interesting throughout but the content within the presentation was very peculiar yet meaningful.

Although Briggs is a photographer, he revealed his bad experiences of photographs led him to photography, because as a child his family would create this facade and ignore the problems within their life in order to portray a healthy family circle.

“In search of lost parts of my childhood I try to think outside the reality I was socialised into and create new ones with my parents and self.”

I was particularly interested in Briggs’s fascination with opposites, for example ‘desires’ and ‘disgust’, giving this sense of bathos. Throughout his work, Briggs defies the expectations of photography as he incorporates the unthinkable to his work, relating to his cry for attention following his loss of some areas in his childhood.

Linking to our given theme, Briggs uses family and the environment to express his emotion through photography. For example, this image deemed “Reclamation, 2011” displays Briggs posing for a picture with his father (right). Briggs is wearing an enlarged wooden mask of his father’s head, however, the internal mould of the mask fits Jonny’s face but pushes his cheeks into a forced, reflecting the family photos he used to dread. An alternative point to note is the close proximity of Briggs junior and Briggs senior as the pair struggled to form a solid bond in Jonny’s younger years, so perhaps their affection is a an appeasement for what Jonny had missed out upon as a youngster.

During the presentation, the question of the relevance of the forrest based scenery was asked and Briggs responded that when he was younger, he developed his imagination by using the forest as a setting for applying his infatuation with Disney movies and how they often allow him to divert from the troubles of his childhood. It’s interesting that Briggs found comfort within a specific environment and believed the significance of the scene was enough to set his photograph there.

What are archives?

“a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.”

“place or store (something) in an archive.”

Société Jersiaise is a Jersey organisation who look to preserve and protect local archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of the environment.

The organisation is purely funded by memberships and donations which enables the building to function and still provide the people of the public domain as well as keen artists the opportunity to discover a rural and much forgotten Jersey. From photographers to parishes,  Société Jersiaise enables you to search the archives whether it be for work or recreational purposes.

The Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 80,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day and is the principal Jersey collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century photography – http://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archivehttp://societe-jersiaise.org/photographic-archive.

Before we had the opportunity to visit the unique site, I was unaware the organisation existed so we’re very lucky to have rare images so accessible to us. Especially for my upcoming search into the property I live in in Saint Brelades.

There are also other sites with similar functions in Jersey, for example the Jersey Archive on Clarence Road withhold over 300,000 forms of archive, however, they’re not all photography based. The most popular reason to as why the public visit the site is to learn more about their family.

https://www.jerseyheritage.org/places-to-visit/jersey-archive

Local archives preserve the history of the island, whether its family based or for research. Admission is free which gives everybody the opportunity to gain information on local matters.

Tanja Deman is a contemporary photographer from Croatia and is currently based in the small English island of Jersey. She has developed a very specific photographic theme due to following her interests in space, physical and emotional connection to a place and her relationship to nature. Observing recently built legacy or natural sites her work investigates the sociology of space and reflects dynamics hidden under the surface of both the built and natural environment. As well as being a cutting edge photographer, Deman also incorporates collage, video and public art, demonstrating her versatility not only as a photographer but an artist in general.

Deman is clearly a success in and out of Jersey as she has won numerous awards, including the 2017. Archisle International Photography Award, Jersey, UK.  – http://www.tanja-deman.com/ABOUT

Fortunately for the photography students at Hautlieu school, we’ve been able to attend a workshop at  Société Jersiaise, an organisation created in 1873 for the study of Jersey archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of the environment. During Deman’s workshop we gained knowledge onto how to function the local archives which are preserved by the organisation. The experience was quite shocking as we discovered a rather rural Jersey, particularly Saint Helier. Deman also presented her images that she had taken of the Western coast of Jersey as well as Sark. The images were generally of the distinctive Channel Island rock that shelters our islands but also included unique photos of rocks underwater.  This collection of images contributes to her ‘Saltwater’ series – http://www.tanja-deman.com/WORKS/Saltwater

The experience did not only provide an element of nostalgia as our recluse island has become too modernized but it was also very interesting to study Deman’s individual and alternative approach to following her interests through art and photography.