Jersey Museum Exhibition: People Make Jersey

The exhibition states; ‘Every Jersey resident has an immigration story – whether their family came here 500 years or five years ago. This exhibition explores some of these stories and the ways in which immigration has shaped and influenced the Island we know today.’

The town area of jersey is split into different quarters, the Merchant Quarters, the French/Portuguese Quarters and the British expats/ wealthy residents

I took my first photoshoot around the French/Portuguese sector:

Here I photographed many small shops and cafes with French and Portuguese owners and often selling French/Portuguese food. I also found many people of Portuguese background working together as a community in shops, cafes and other areas like construction and painting.

Seeing these different communities inspired me to research my background and find out my heritage. I found out that up to my great grandparents I am fully Jersey/Jersey French with my surname (Jeanne) being a Jersey French name. I used  Archive and Collections Online to find this out and where my relative are from.

These different sectors and communities give the island diversity, and this is originally from immigration throughout the centuries. A detailed map of immigration to and from Jersey over the years can be found on this Jersey Migration Map.