Since the summer of 2019 our photography classes have been working on an extensive programme of study in our final year exploring Jersey’s Liberation and Occupation history in collaboration with Société Jersiaise, Jersey Heritage, Channel Island Occupation Society, Jersey War Tunnels, Bureau des Îles Anglo-Normandes and post-graduate students from École Européenne Supérieure d’art de Bretagne in Rennes with funding from Liberation 75. We were challenged with responding to personal stories told by islanders experiencing the German Occupation first-hand and finding inspiration by looking through images, documents and objects held in various collections in Jersey’s public archives, producing a series of individual creative outcomes such as montages, photo-zines and collectively construct a visual narrative presented as a newspaper supplement printed and distributed by Jersey Evening Post on Friday 24 April. The programme of study began on the 4 June at the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive where we took inspiration from a presentation by Patrick Cahill, Photo-Archivist and looked through some of the historical collections held in the photo-archive pertaining to the German Occupation of Jersey in 1940-45. In September we explored the landscape of German fortifications around the coastline of Jersey with specific visits to bunkers, such as Battery Moltke at Les Landes and Battery Lothringen at Noirmoint Point. Further visits followed to Jersey War Tunnels and Jersey Archive to research public records and learn more about life in the island during the Occupation. Personal stories and memories from islanders, Bob Le Seur, Hedley Hinault, Joyce De La Haye and Joan Tapley, experiencing the German Occupation first-hand were recounted to us in a series of workshops, that included portrait sessions in the studio and photographing objects from 1940-45 held in the Occupation collection at Jersey Heritage. As a collective we have interpreted how the themes of Liberation and Occupation relates to us as teenagers growing up in the 21st century and the combined outcome of our studies can be seen on the pages of this newspaper, and in a joint exhibition Bunker Archaeology 2020 with postgraduate students from École Européenne Supérieure d’art de Bretagne (EESAB) originally to be held at the Berni Gallery, Jersey Arts Centre 6 -30 May 2020, now postponed due to Covid-19.The Bailiff Timothy Le Cocq, who has written a foreword in the newspaper expressed his delight with how this collaboration has played a wider role in cultural diplomacy by; ‘allowing Rennes-based Masters students to work with students from Hautlieu on a project that has helped to spread the message of our important history, shared heritage and bringing communities closer together.’

Alongside the newspaper, me and another student alongside Mr Toft were interviewed on two local radio stations about this years Liberation celebrations and how our newspaper was playing a big part in that celebration. Being both on the radio and in the newspaper has given a new platform for students’ work and has been highly commended by the public.

To conclude, this project has overall been successful in terms of recording and capturing the concepts which I brought into the project, focusing on self identity. Given the titles ‘Occupation Vs Liberation’ I had a large range of work I could explore, however I found the idea that suited best was the liberation of personal identity and the occupation of your own thoughts. Initially I wanted to focus on the destruction of self portraits that would reflect a physical emotion towards these pictures, but through experimentation and photoshoots I created images that reflected an identity. Through my responses to Francesca Woodman and Edward Honaker I was able to combine both response imagery together in which they completed each other and formed a narrative. The narrative being the unwanted identity I was given and how I view myself within those images. Within my final zines I utilised self portraits both archival and new so that it was reflected even as I grew, the sense of unease was consistent.

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Overall, with the four photoshoots I conducted I was able to produce work that reflected a personal touches such as, if the image wasn’t physically manipulated it had it’s own individual characteristics due to the use of film photography. Taking my inspiration from Francesca Woodman meant creating authentic film self-portraits, however to make it my own I used coloured film because you can see imperfections and light leaks. To enhance my images, on the opposing page where the image was I wrote poems for each individual image in a such a way I was translating miscellaneous thoughts into poetry.

For my final pieces, I am very proud in how I managed to construct 2 photographic zines, a storage box for them and a mobile for my mounted and hung images. I wanted everything to be done by hand because it was a project about myself and I don’t think something made by a machine would convey the right message.

Erasure

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Uncomfortable Skin

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Display Box

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The final idea for mounting my final images was to use a small slat of woof then hang my images off of it. I wanted to create this because if hung in a free standing space, the images turn if someone walks past or there is a draft. I wanted this effect to reflect the constant repetitive cycle that mental health causes and how easy it easy to keep following this path of going round and round.

I created this mobile by piercing 3 holes for my main large prints which are mounted on foam board, then marked out where hung images would fill in the gaps. For my double sided main prints I threaded their string vertically so that the prints were reliant on the knots within the string, and the small Polaroids’ thread was looped around the wood. All knots and ties were left untrimmed to continue my theme of handmade and delicacy. Overall I am happy with my final outcome however the images on my foam board aren’t cut exactly so a few imperfect edges.

For my personal study final pieces I aim to create 3 separate handmaid books; one named ‘Erasure’, a hand bound poetic narrative book that explores my want of not wanting my own identity, another named ‘Uncomfortable Skin’ another hand bound book with images that reflect myself and how I’m not currently settled into my vessel I was given, and finally another hand bound book with my final essay discussing ‘Can a personality and identity be reflected through a portrait?’. This trilogy will be encased in a handmade small cardboard box tailored to fit my smaller than A5 books. The idea of the box is to reflect how mental health is still a taboo subject within society so I’m physically hiding the problems away until someone goes and physically discovers them. Everything within my project is supposed to have a rough-and-ready feel due to it being handmade and personal, and could also be connotated as nothing and no one is perfect and usually their imperfections are the admired. My box is neutral toned so that it appears normal on the outside, then my two photographic anthologies are a soft grey colour with red thread which binds the book. This contrast was done mainly for aesthetic purposes. Then my essay zine has a crimson cover and is white thread bound so that it’s obvious that it’s different, this is due to it being a heavily weighted essay reliant upon knowledge and context that benefit my personal identity.

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I want my book to be smaller than A5 because it feels more delicate and the reader would handle it with more care, like they would a broken person. In this draft book, it has 4 signatures sewn together that make up 32 pages. A signature is a sheet of paper with four or more pages and folded one or more times to the approximate size of one page and in a manner which puts the pages in proper numbered order. I then sewed together using a Coptic stitch then glued the spine together to create a solid spine. In then added the grey card cover and made 2 evenly spread holes to begin stab binding. Stab binding consists of going back over yourself to create a linear pattern similar to a blanket stitch. I then covered my stab binding in a linen to create a sturdy spine that wouldn’t allow the stitching to move. For my final book, i am having the linen underneath the stitching so that you can see the red stab binding against the white and grey.

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Images included

Materials:

Card for cover

Thick white paper for main pages

Parchment paper for sticking images onto and poems

Linen for spine

Thread for sewed binding

Embossed label for title

Narrative:

Begins with personal archival images from childhood that have been hand edited and manipulated

Followed by newer images that reflect from an innocent mind to a corrupt mind

All images portraits majority are self portraits

Poems:

For each image there is a written passage whether it be two words or a ballad, they aid the narrative and reinforce my ideas of identity.

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