To start our Year 13 project, we have started looking at the culture and immigration of Jersey. By looking at these aspects in more detail it creates a better understanding of what life used to be like at Jersey and the culture/history behind certain areas and buildings we have here. Taking a trip down to the Jersey Museum allowed us to visually see and learn about the migration with-in Jersey and what caused it and how it was during those times. The exhibition allowed everyone to learn about different stories and how Jersey was influenced and impacted by this.

here are some images of what was at the exhibition and for context;

all of these displays allowed us to see the history of immigration visually and more clearly.

here’s an example of one story for reference-

Jean Janvrin was one of the merchant traders who operated the triangular cod trade between the Gaspé, the West Indies and the Mediterranean. The Janvrin family had been involved with the transatlantic trade for several generations.

In common with many traders Jean maintained a base at St Aubin on the Rue du Crocquet. His house, L’Anciennette was located on the right hand side of the road in part of the building that is now St Aubyn’s Hotel Apartments. The house was bought in 1803 by Jean from Thomas Pipon’s creditors. Pipon had gone bankrupt and the house was sold into the Janvrin family in order to help him pay his debts.

The photographer I want to study in more detail and analyse his work is Henry Mullins. Henry Mullins is a very famous photographer especially in Jersey’s history as he was one of the first famous photographers to influence Jersey photography. The unique thing about his photography is that all his images were portraits of people. This is quite important and powerful for our history as it shows us visually what individuals of different class looked and dressed lie in the 80s. His photography allows us to see a visually representation of Jersey’s culture back in the day and how much it has evolved over all these years up until now, such as fashion

Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Initially he was in partnership with a Mr Millward, about whom very little is known. By the following year he was working alone and he continued to work out of the same studio for another 26 years.

For a brief period in the 1860s he also worked in London, but judging by the collection of his photographs which is now held by La Société Jersiaise, he found plenty of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay half a guinea (promoted as “one half of that in London”) to have their portrait taken by him.

analysis of one of Henry’s photographs-

As you can see this photo is a portrait photo that has been taken in black and white. His face and body has a much darker tone compared to the background that is just all plain white, this nicely contrasts together and makes him stand out in the portrait. Mullins would have mostly likely used natural lighting and photographed this young man in a studio as the background is all white or even in his own home. He’s positioned to be photographed directly in the center of the image which makes him the main subject and focus, as this is a portrait photograph. You can probably figure out his class and wealth status just by having a look at what he’s wearing. He’s dressed in a neat dark suit with a tie which suggests he’s most likely middle or upper class as he would definitely need to have money to buy a good looking suit instead of just being in old slacks and photographed in a farm. Him being dressed well also suggests he probably has a good earning job and his hair looks well put together too. This is why Mullins taking portraits is very important and empowering as you can see and tell so much just from one image.

Some more examples of Henry’s photographs-

How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?

Archives show us the past and educate us on the history through visual evidence.

Société Jersiaise

The Société Jersiaise was founded in January 28, 1873. They have now been collecting photography for 140 years, holding history with context helping present generations gain knowledge of Jersey. Photography arrived in Jersey in 1840.

Thomas Sutton was a pioneer who developed new camera equipment and photographer equipment. In 1859 he developed the panoramic camera with a wide-angle lens and in 1861 he developed the first single lens reflex camera. In 1861 Sutton took and developed the worlds first colour photo of a Tartan ribbon with James Clerk Maxwell who directed him to take three photographs of the ribbon through different coloured filters for each . He also worked on the development of dry photographic plates.

Henry Mullins was the first photographer to come to Jersey in 1848 and after his death he had a collection of 20,000 negatives which was given to La Société in 2006.

He first started working in London but then moved to jersey in July 1848 to set up a studio which was initially a partnership but the year after he was working alone and continued to do so for 26 years.

For a short period in the 1860s he also worked in London but based on his photographic archives at La Société Jersiaise, he found more people in Jersey prepared to pay to have their portrait taken by him.

William Collie took images of French Migrant Workers which some were early forms of staging photography as he had his friends dress up to create images. In the archive he currently hold 157 photographs.

He also was one of the pioneers of the photographic processes which help lead to paper prints invented by William Fox Talbot.

From looking at the photos from the past we learn of the physical developments from the past such as the difference between our buildings, roads and land. We also learn the difference in society and the way of life, such as jobs and dress sense. As a family we have many old photos kept in physical photo albums but also albums on phones and social media platforms such as Facebook which also show the difference between looks and society from 10 years ago. Also we have archives of text messages which are kept on our phones and tell us a little about our personalities, because if someone was to read them they would have enough to be able to judge you as a person.

Edwin Dale

Edwin Dale was a photographer who took pictures of jersey in the early 20th century (between 1910 and 1920), specifically landscapes. He focused on Harbour scenes and steamships, churches, houses, country lanes and coastal views, sport and the railway. He also took some portraits of working people. He travelled around the island on his motorbike to take his photos.  

His photos are part of the Photographic Archive at La Société Jersiaise and private collectors. He photographed events such as the Royal Visit of 1911. In 1914 around 40 of his images were published as a series of postcards.

Edwin Dale’s work helps us learn about the past of Jersey such as building developments and lifestyle changes.

Examples Of His Work:

From studying Edwin Dales work we can gain knowledge of the past and how Jersey has changed with new technology and inventions. Like in ‘A penny farthing bicycle’ (shown above) an old traditional bicycle is pictured showing the difference between modern bicycles. Also, the other two images show a difference in the landscape, for example the harbour has now changed completely as in the photo it is used as the main harbour for big boats but now is used mainly by fishermen. Furthermore, in recent years the land around La Colette has been expanded with landfill.

Image Analysis

Key Themes– Edwin Dale’s work is inspired by every day life and taking images best showing the everyday life that would have been in the early 1900s, 100 years ago.

Context– A picture of a man standing on top of a traditional Vraic Cart pulled by a white horse on a field. A man in the background holding a pitchfork and a line of horses in the back. It is taken from eye level with the cart in the centre of the image. The title ‘Vraic Cart’ educates the audience because before knowing the title I did not know what was gong on, but the title tells us it is a cart using Vraic to fertilise the soil. It also implies that this is the main focus of the image and is maybe why he took it, to solely educate the future society.

Formal Elements– The image is in black and white which makes the image have a high tonal range and creates a large contrast between the shadows and highlights. The image is taken outside meaning Dale replied on the natural lighting. At first the image looks a bit dark in nature but then if you look closer there is a shadow on the ground meaning it was a sunny day which changes the mood of the image as it is just an average day and Dale is probably out on a capturing the natural everyday working people. The image follows the rule of thirds as he has positioned the line of houses in the top third of the image and has kept his main subject (the horse varic cart) in the centre.

Conclusion

Referring back to the essay question (How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?) I think that it is obvious that we can learn a huge amount from archives of any sort, specifically photographic archives as they can help us visualise and see things like how they did in the past. For example they are a good way to see how they lived in the past and how technology has changed, showing the difference between the past and the present. They can also show the difference between the lives of different class, gender, race and religion and how they lived together as a community but also the difference with those groups to the present day.

To develop my own work forwards I would like to adapt a similar style to Edwin Dale by taking images in the style of photojournalism. for example I could go to town where it is busy and take images capturing the lifestyle of people and them in their routines going to work, shopping or socialising.

The Trip

On Monday the 7th June we met at the Jersey Museum so that we could see the last day of the exhibition to do with Identity and Community. The exhibition was to do with the history of immigration from different parts of the world and the stories behind those who came here. This included historical information from the 1800 – 1900’s and information from the first and Second World War. The idea of the exhibition was to hear the stories from people who came 500 years ago or 5 years ago and how ‘People make Jersey’. We went to the exhibit at 9 am on Monday the 7th to see the last day of the exhibit before it was taken down.

The exhibit had information about settlers in Jersey spanning from recent settlers and settlers up to 7,000 years ago.

Above I have grouped the images I took at the museum showing the idea of identity and backgrounds of people in Jersey. I took photos of some of the people of Jersey talking about their heritage but also examples of how the non-native people were treated. To the bottom right of the images above, there are small coloured cars given to people coming to Jersey to live called “Alien Cards”.

Above I have grouped images I took of maps new vs old and examples of old publications. It shows a newspaper and book as well as a map of France and England showing where the origins of “Jersey” names come from. I am interested by the maps as it shows how much we have changed the layout of St Helier. It is also interesting that we have reclaimed land and built more space for Jersey to spread and thrive.

Finally, above I grouped photos that were historical items you wouldn’t see now for example a pair of old clogs, old money, an old accordion, an old crown and finally a stone age flint tool. This shows the diversity in the past of Jersey and how it was influenced by people who came from many different places.

My Images

After taking photos inside the museum, we moved on to take photos in town to look at the different sections of town that were for the different migrant communities. On the first walk we went on, we went from the Jersey Museum to the St Helier Church.

Lightroom

From the 400 images I took on the first photo shoot, I only flagged 51 that I liked and may wanted to use. I then filtered them down into red green and yellow. I only edited the yellow and green rated images. This left me with a final 16 images to edit.

To edit the image above, I applied the vivid colour filter and increased vibrance/ hue slightly to make the colours more vivid.

Artist Inspirations – Niall McDiarmid

Who is Niall McDiarmid?

Niall McDiarmid is a Scottish photographer and he mainly documents the people and landscape of Britain. McDiarmid was born in 1967 in Scotland and over his photography career has had his work shown at the Museum of London, Bristol and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Mood Board

McDiarmid positioned the subjects to be in the centre and slightly to the right of centre. The camera is also zoomed out slightly so we can still see the facial expression of the main subject but also the background of the natural street showing people doing their own things.

The subject is being naturally lit but some parts of the image are quite dark. The colour yellow is used as a form of repetition in the image and appears multiple times. Firstly the subject is wearing a yellow jumper. He also appears to have yellow tobacco and another box that is yellow. The van behind him is yellow and the flag behind him is also yellow. I believe this repetition is used to show how the subject is different from other people who aren’t wearing yellow in the background behind him.

Museum Photos

June 7th Photo shoot

June 28th Photo Shoot