Daily Archives: June 24, 2019

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AO2 Explore Ideas, Uncategorized

Who’s archive is it anyway?

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Archives are places that contain many historical images and documents. They preserve things in order for the public to be able to view, compare and learn from the past. However, as time goes on archives are beginning to change in order to keep up with current technology. Theorist, David Bates, has referred to this by saying that “no longer are photographic archives merely filled with dusty piles of boxes” since “digitisation of photographic images online has also generated new networks”. This is a positive change as having digitized versions of images and documents, makes them more accessible to more people. However, this also means that people may not apricate it as more since there is minimal effort involved in acquiring these materials.

Archives can be used for research and knowledge. Since the images and documents are old, they can be analysed so people in the modern day have an insight to how the world would be. This is especially useful for research photographers since it allows them to be able to see physical images from years ago, which means it is possible to contrast and compare images from today. They’re also important to have since It is important to keep things that happened in the past alive in the modern age, as it is important that societies learn from their past errors, archives play an important role in this as they keep memories prom the past preserved in order for people to see.

Archives are repositories of past memories since they provide evidence that people can use to examine the past, in a way where they can understand it. For example, One of Jersey’s archive’, Societe Jersiarse, is a local archive that contains many images and documents of Jersey’s history. This specific archive is very important as it allows people to look at local history, images an documents. Without the preservation of local history, local knowledge may not have been as well known. Thanks to organisations such as this archive, local people can easily access information about their past which can help them to understand their heritage and understand why things are the way they are.

In archives I believe that photography can play a double role. This is because the images are used for both scientific and historical research and also for artistic purposes. Obviously, the images can be used to research society and the past so that societies are able to know more about the history of where they’re from so they’re able to be more culturally aware, but they can also be used for more creative outlooks. Our project for example, allows us to experience learning the whole historical knowledge however, it also allows us to express it in a more creative manor since we are not confined to solely research.

Louise Lawler is a photographer that is mentioned in David Bate’s text. She is a photographer who from the late 1970s onward, photographed many works of other artists. she focuses on photographing the environment surroundings of featured artworks. Her work demonstrates how images can be contextualised and decontextualised with and without their surrounding areas.

Image by Louise Lawler.

Another artist mentioned by Bates is Tracey Moffatt, specifically her series “something more”. This series depicts a desire to leave her rural life behind, for city life. As you can see from the series below, most of the images show the figures staring at the woman whom appears to be in deep thought in most of the images.

Series by Tracey Moffatt.

Looking at Archival material would be very useful in my personal study. Since my project will of course be based around the occupation of Jersey, I think it is really important that I refer back to original images of the time period so that my project can be more accurate. referring to the original images will also help as it will give me more of an insight into my local areas that have a lot of history behind them that I otherwise would not really know about without archive images and documents. It will also give me more of an understanding of how society acted at the time, which would really allow me to have a more in depth view into the thoughts and feelings of jersey people which allows my project to have more of an authentic touch to it. I feel that looking at this material will also help me to be more empathetic to the people of Jersey’s situations during this time. This means that my project will hopefully have more of an emotional touch, which would make it more successful as it will trigger a more emotive response in my audience

Our trip to the Jersey archive, Société Jersiaise, has already been very helpful when it came to getting my project started. Being able to physically see and touch images taken during the occupation has helped me develop an appreciation and deeper understanding of what happened. It has also helped with the accuracy of my project, since I am now aware of certain locations in Jersey that have a special historical significance, which will enhance my project as I will be able to explore different areas of the island by picturing them. This has also helped me appreciate the history of the island that I grew up in since prior to this, I had minimal knowledge on the occupation.

Researching and being able to physically spend a day in an archive has taught me how important it is to preserve things that depict and explain our history, as they key to understanding how our society is in the modern age, lies in what has happened in the past. I have also learnt really important aspects of Jersey’s history which is very important as I now feel more confident in proceeding with the project since I have underlying knowledge of Jersey during the occupation, which I gained from viewing images and reading documents. I have also learnt the importance of exploring local history because it can teach you a lot about the way you grew up.

AO2 Explore Ideas, Uncategorized

Visiting Société Jersiaise

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“The Société Jersiaise was founded in 1873 for the study of Jersey archaeology, history, natural history, the ancient language and the conservation of the environment.”


– source


About the Société

The Société Jersiaise is a Jersey archive which preserves Jersey’s history. Amongst many objects, they house many images that depict Jersey’s occupation during WW2. In the archive you can find many images taken by both German soldiers and Jersey people.

The Société was founded by a group of jersey individuals who were keen on jersey’s history and wanted to make sure it was kept. The Société then grew to include the founding of a museum, and the purchasing archaeological sites in order to preserve and present them. Some sights now owned by the Société Jersiaise are La Houge Bie and La Cotte de Saint-Brélade

Images to the right are from the Société Jersiaise archive.

Our Day

Our day began with a presentation where we were told some background information on the archive, such as when it was founded and some of the important Jersey photographers who’s work are in the archive.

The archive was formed in 1873, and in 1877 they announced that they had aims of opening a museum. The archive contains over 100,000 images from the mid 1840s, to today. Since Britain and France were both known for the development of photography, Jersey (located between the two) has a rich history in photography. On the 9th of May 1840, photography arrived in Jersey, and the archive contains works by photographers such as Thomas Sutton and William Collie.

We then spent the majority of the time looking through many collections of images, both from the archive and private collectors, from the occupation of Jersey.

We were able to see many photos taken by both Jersey and German photographers, which was very interesting as it meant we were able to see two different perspectives of the occupation.

After choosing our favourite images, we then recorded the reference numbers so that the archive were able to provide us with the digital version you can see in the gallery to the right.

Next, We spent some time learning about narratives. A narrative is the idea that a group of images are able to tell an audience a story. We were given a selection of copies of archive images so that we were able to attempt our own narratives in groups. This was a helpful task as it aided me in realising that sometimes, less images may be better than more. Below is the narrative that my group produced:

We decided to place the images chronologically to tell the story of the Nazis invading. The images on the left show soldiers either on Jersey’s coast or on the sea. This is the beginning part of them coming to Jersey. In the centre you can see images of soldiers integrating into Jersey’s centre which is meant to symbolise the beginning of the occupation. Towards the right, you can see images of the soldiers with machinery and ammunition showing them settling into the Island.

Taking my own images

Next, We walked around Jersey’s town centre in order to take images of things to do with the occupation of Jersey.

Best images

Comparing images

while taking images around town, I decided to go to some locations that I had seen in images at the archive. Below are the archive images, compared to the images I took.

AO1 Develop Ideas

Occupation of Jersey research

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The channel islands were the only part of Britain to be under the occupation of the Nazis, and after 5 years the island was liberated on the 9th May 1945. The Nazis invaded Jersey one week after the British government demilitarised the island, as they feared the safety of the people in the event of conflict. The Germans were not aware of this, and heavily attacked the island. 10 people were killed and many were also wounded.

Island life


Here, German soldiers relax on Jersey in 1940. During the occupation, islanders were deported to an internment camp in Germany. Others were forced to work under in grueling conditions to build tunnels that were later used as an underground hospital. German-built bunkers are still visible along the island’s coast

Under the command of the Nazi soldiers, life became very different for the citizens of Jersey. A shortage of fuel meant that horse and cartridges were used instead of cars, and the soldiers forced people to drive/ride on the opposite side of the road. People had to also get used to living with limited amounts of information as radio sets became banned. Some islanders risked hiding them, and took it upon themselves to spread news about what was happening on the frontline to others.

There was a shortage of many supplies on the island during this time. Islanders became smart at coming up with substitutes for things they no longer had access to. Sea water was commonly used as salt, and parsnip paired with sugar beet replaced tea. The SS Vega was a relief ship provided by the Red Cross that saved the starving islanders. The ship arrive on December 30th, providing the people of Jersey with food and much needed medical supplies that the island was in desperate need of.

Fortification


German soldiers at leisure on Jersey during their occupation of the Channel Islands, 1942

Hitler ordered that Jersey should become a fortress which no one could get into. May slave workers from places like Spain, Russia, Poland and France built many bunkers and tunnel systems which are still around to this day. one of the most prominent fortification is HO8, which has now been converted into the Jersey War Tunnels where visitors can go and experience what life was like for islanders under the occupation. There are also many fortification sites around Jersey’s coasts, especially in St Ouens.

The Jersey war tunnels website contains a variety of interesting stories passed down through families about the occupation. They’re all very interesting as they’re all about what ordinary citizens went through in their lives. Below is one a story taken from the website which I found particularly interesting:

Unsung heroes


As German forces advanced relentlessly through northern France into Normandy and Brittany, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were trapped with their backs to the sea. The British Admiralty organised a rescue mission – often called ‘Little Dunkirk’ – to evacuate them from French ports, including St Malo, 50 miles south of Jersey.


Dunkirk had shown that small boats would be an important part of the operation; they could pick up troops in shallow water, then take them to larger transport ships anchored in deeper water. So on the 16th June 1940 the Admiralty sent a Telegram to Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor requesting that “… Jersey send all available craft to St Malo to help the evacuation of British troops from there…”

– Taken from the Jersey war tunnels website, full story here.



Liberation


Crowds cheer as the Channel Islands are liberated at Saint Peter Port in 1945

On may 8th 1945, in Winston Churchill’s famous speech, he mentions:


“and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.”

Jersey people only officially knew the war was over, the following day when the HMS beagle was seen in St Aubin’s harbour. On May 9th at 7:15, the instrument of surrender was signed on behalf of the German command of the Channel Islands. All German flags in the Channel Islands were then lowered. On the arrival of the liberators, the swastika that was hanging on the Pomme D’Or hotel was taken down and replaced by a union jack at 3:40 showing the end of the occupation. The crowd gathered then began singing the national anthem. This day is still celebrated every year in Jersey with a bank holiday.


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Experiment Two- Black and White Adjustments

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What does black and white mean in art/ photography?

Colours are known as wavelengths which are reflected by objects to the human eye. White is known to be represented as pure light in art, where as black is the absence of light. These two non-colours could also be know to be associated with life and death situations, as well as creating questions about identity. Editing into black and white also helps to bring out different contrasts in order to help bring out the effects above.

I have decided to experiment with black and white edits in order to change the contrast of images.

When editing my images into black and white i first pressed the ‘develop’ button on the top right hand side which led me onto the editing page shown in the image below. This step was followed by firstly pressing the ‘auto’ button so the images white balance changed.

I then pressed the ‘black and white’ button which changed the image to black and white.

black and white edit

I then edited the contrast/exposure/ highlights/ shadowing etc to ensure the image looked as best as it could.

Image after editing…

This process was then repeated for the images below…

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Jersey Archives Research: Visit to Société Jersiaise

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The archives in Jersey hold a vast range of images taken during the occupation of Jersey during WW2 (1940-45). The Société Jersiaise studies the history and archaeology of Jersey, and hosts archives that contain documentation and photography that reflects the life and work of those living through the occupation of Jersey, from both allied and axis perspectives. Over 360,000 images can be found in the archives of Société Jersiaise, and many of these images are vital to documenting and remembering the lives of those living through the occupation, and how the invasion of German forces changed not only the lives of inhabitants, but also the impact they had on jerseys natural environment due to the development of military forts, such as bunkers and artillery fortifications along the coasts of Jersey.

We were given a brief history of the archives, and we were shown the influence of photographers such as Ernst Baudoux, who was a photographers working during the late 19th century (when the archive was first constructed). The archive was explained to be an important place in which images from throughout Jersey’s recent history are collected, in order to preserve them which allows for the different generations and landmark events (such as wars) to be reviewed and remembered.

During our trip to the Société Jersiaise, we were able to experience and look into a wide range of archived images, depicting the occupation from the perspective of the German soldiers and officers. The following is a series of images that I took on the day:

The experience at the archives allowed us to get a better understanding of the occupation and how it affected Jersey in multiple ways, from a more personal perspective. The images, when placed together, tell a narrative of the occupation of Jersey, from when it was first invaded in 1940, until its liberation in 1945. These images are all extremely important to preserving the history of Jersey, and they allow us to recount the events of WW2 and the occupation, and remember how life was affected by the invasion for the thousands of inhabitants of the island.

During our visit to the archives, we were asked to create a narrative using the photographs available. This task was used to get us to think about the structure and layout of a series of images (a skill useful in our bunker archaeology project). In doing so, we were able to form a relatively coherent story, using the layout of images to depict a timeline. Our group opted to show the progression of the invasion of Jersey in a more literal sense, moving from the sea to the coast, and continuing inland. We also split the photographs into further sections, showing groups of images as soldiers, artillery and civilians, to further emphasis the divide between the groups on the island during the occupation. The following is the final result:

Component 1 Personal Investigation

The Occupation of Jersey:

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On the 30th of June 1940, German forces invaded the island of Jersey, Channel Islands. They continued to occupy the island until its Liberation in May 1945. The Channel Islands were the only parts of the British Isles that were occupied by the German armed forces during the Second World War, and during the 5 years of occupation, both islanders and occupiers dealt with increasingly poor living and working conditions. Many of these poor conditions were reported on by inhabitants of the islands, and can be read and seen through photography, diary entries and letters, encapsulating the theme of hardship and distress that plagued the island at the time.

The British Government declared that the Channel Islands were of little to no strategic importance during the summer of 1940, and made the decision to demilitarize the islands in order to spread resources and arms more effectively over areas that they thought were of more importance. This left the islands of Jersey and Guernsey with no military defense, and so during the invasion, Jersey was very much at the mercy of the German forces.

The German forces began to construct fortifications, bunkers and artillery outposts across Jersey as part of the Atlantic Wall (a system of coastal defenses across Nazi occupied areas of Europe, built to defend against an impending Allied invasion). Numerous concrete bunkers and walls were constructed along the coastlines of Jersey in order to defend against a possible attack, although this attack never came, and the island was eventually liberated in 1945.

The Germans occupation of Jersey changed a lot about the daily life of inhabitants of the island for the 5 years that the occupation lasted. Radios, cameras and boats were confiscated, there were strict restrictions placed on exporting goods, freedom of speech and access to healthcare and medicine, and the people of Jersey were forced to change to German time, driving on the right side of the road, and accepting forced rations. A curfew was established to limit the populations movement in the evening and night hours, and censorship of the media was strict.

The drastic changes made to the lives of the people of Jersey, the defensive structures built by the Germans, and the effects that the occupation had on the landscape of the island, have all been documented in a variety of detailed ways, from photographs to diary entries. The occupation of Jersey had a huge impact on civilian and military personnel alike, and various archives and museum exhibits around the Island document the struggles of the inhabitants of Jersey, through this time. The occupation of Jersey shaped how the island is seen to this day, from the memories of the older generations still living on the island, to the marks left in the physical landscape; the occupation of Jersey changed the island indefinitely.