With this series of images I attempt to tell a story about an area of St Helier with historical or contemporary links with migrant communities.
My work will focus on three main elements to capture the historical context of the theme of identity and community in St Helier:
A sense of place – for example; location, site, environment, residential area, communal park, architecture and details, Interior of church, community centre, house or home.
Character of community – for example; street scene, decisive moment, staging or performing for the camera.
People and portraiture – For example, a resident outside his/her house/apartment block, shop/ business owner, street portrait/ passer-by.
I focused on three contrasting areas of St Helier:
Route 1: Merchant quarter – This area of town was once where the core community of merchants were located. It was once located right on the waters edge in the 1800s but now boarders the marina – this gives merchants easy access to their ships and therefore gives insight into why this area is dubbed the merchant quarter. I enjoyed photographing the character of community in this area as people fused with their environment and seemed to interact with it well.
Route 2: French/ Portuguese quarters – This area of town is where most of the European migrant such as the large number of French and Portuguese people that began settling. This area features a diverse range of neighbourly people who form a lively community. This is why I found this area was most interesting to shoot in terms of people and portraiture.
Route 3: British expats/ wealthy residents (Rouge Boullion) – The United Kingdom is Jersey’s closest international partner. Deep social, cultural, economic and constitutional links between us have been built up and maintained over hundreds of years. This area is where most of the wealthy residents and British expats began to settle. The rich architecture in this area is what I found most interesting to shoot. The wealthy British would bring their builders over from the UK to build the magnificent houses. Shooting a sense of place in this area was what I focused on.
Mood Boards
Sense of Place
Character of Community
People and Portraiture
Contact Sheets
Shoot 1 – a sense of place
During this shoot I focused on capturing St Helier’s buildings and homes in a manner that encapsulated the social and historical contexts of Jersey. I did this by shooting different styles of buildings – Portuguese, British, houses, shops, offices. I also shot structures which had different ages; I shot newer office blocks and also old houses that had been around since St Helier’s birth.
During my editing I focused on aesthetic composition; I therefore made sure to frame everything in a symmetrical or artistic manner.
I also focused on dramatizing the buildings using deep colour schemes and contrast.
Final Images:
The image above presents a pleasing visual aesthetic as the images share a consistency. They are consistent with framing and composition with the two doors and stairs framed identically. This image tells a story of community and their connection through identical housing, but also shining focus on unique identity shown by the different colour choices of the doors. These images are also effective at referencing a sense of place A few other images that achieve this message in one composition are shown below.
The below images share warm tones and a ‘lens flare’ in the top of the composition that give the images a sense of prosperity that suggests the buildings have been stood happily looking down on the community for a long time.
Shoot 2 – Sense of Character
For this shoot I shot people of St Helier interacting with their environment and each other. This produced a wide range of emphatic images expressing emotion and telling a story about the area they are in and about what type of people they are.
I also shot images where there was a lack of people in the shot in a physical sense. I instead shot urban landscapes where there was a setting created by people and shaped by the community but lacked the physical presence of people. For example this image of a food stall tells a story about the community and their everyday lives without anyone actually being present in the image.
The following images are of scenes composing of characters of the community. I like the way they are composed in a way were they blend in with their environment, and all look to be living the hustle and bustle of St Helier, just like their migrant fisherman, merchant ancestors.
Shoot 3 – People and Portraiture
For this shoot I focused on capturing the emotion of the people I shot. I also focused on shooting people who were busy going about their day in a variety of different ways, weather that be playing guitar on the pavement or taking a smoke break; the images tell a story of identity.
After our tour of the museum we were able to explore the beautifully restored Victorian House and enter the drama of a Victorian family in crisis. Thereafter, we were taken on a tour on the streets near the museum by a passionate historical architecture expert Stuart Fell.
I documented the tours keeping migration and communities in mind and shot it in a fashion that focused on
– a sense of place – character of community – people, portraiture
I began my editing process by using the software Adobe Lightroom Classic to start identifying my most powerful and useful images. I did this by working in the Library window and implementing LR’s features that help organise and rank photos. I gave a series of images a ‘flag’ which indicates if I picked them or not. I then gave each image a star rating which narrows down how much I like the image even more and therefore makes the displaying and selecting of my images an easier process. Finally I colour coded images that I believed would work well presented together
I then used the compare views feature to make comparisons between the same photo edited in deferent ways and to reflect on the before and after of my images to experiment how they could be tweaked differently and what works well to emphasise the emotion in my photographs.
The above is an example of this feature being used where I compare two different images edited in two different fashions. The feature makes it easy to see which image works better at one quick glance.
The above is an example of a before and after comparison where the image is split in half and an easy examination into what editing took place can be made.
When editing my images the first element of the image I pay attention to before I start tweaking anything else is composition. I adjust the image using the crop overlay tool to frame and compose the image artistically.
After this I experiment with the colour elements of the image
I do the same but, experiment with a completely desaturated monochrome version of an image.
Below are the final edits of the museum and architecture walk grouped into two collages.
William Collie was a very influential photographer in Jersey in the mid 1800s. His work is portraiture based with shots that look like candid’s but are most likely set up. These images were taken at the jersey marketplace probably of French women in French lane, a place which still exists now but has since been renamed to Hilgove Street. Due to the time period the photos are in black and white and are quite grainy however they are very good quality with a reasonably high resolution
This photo was taken by Collie in 1847 showing three French women sitting at the market place having a conversation after buying their wares. The three of them sat together create leading lines that form a triangle which would give the central woman the most power however she and the woman on the left are looking to the woman one the right who in turn is looking directly at the camera giving her the most power. The photo looks as if he is instructing them how to pose as they do not look natural enough to be candid’s and as it was taken in the 1840’s the photo would have taken a long time to be taken so it would not be possible to take a candid.
My photo seems to be a tableau however is a candid depicting a family meal. I had the option to put it in black and white like Collie would have but instead kept it in colour as it makes the food, which is an important part of our family culture, stand out. Similarly to collies work, arms are used to create leading lines directing to the food.
Here I produced quick arrangements of my photographs to see which images worked well together in a sequence, for example I tried placing portraits together and architectural ones separately. This helped me gain an idea of the order I will put my images in, as well as how they work together to tell a story. Ultimately I decided to place my images in a sequence that alternated between portrait and landscape, as I believe it will create a sense of balance in my zine.
Next I stuck down my images down onto a booklet template, in the order I had decided on, allowing me to see what it would look like once printed. Here I decided to place a black and white landscape photograph as a double page spread in the centre, as I believed it could further develop my idea of balance within the zine, whilst also creating a kind of symmetry between the start and end of the piece.
For my front and back cover I have chosen my images of doorways that are next to each other to show the duality of the communities existing throughout St. Helier. This also could be used as a metaphor for looking inside the lives and lifestyles of the people in this town. In addition it represents the polarised contents of the zine, that shows both the architecture and the people of who inhabit the different quarters.
For the first page of my zine I have chosen to display two images, one containing multiple sets of flats and housing, and the other a portrait of a lady standing in front of her restaurant. For every image of architecture, I have chosen to add a black background to further contrast with the vibrance of the portrait opposite it, additionally it also contrasts with the white sky in the photograph.
On the second page I have included again both a portrait and an architectural image with the same backgrounds and layouts as the previous page. The image on the left showcases St. Thomas’ Church accompanied with a portrait of a man at work in a garage on the right, both taken within the French/Portuguese quarters within town.
For the third page I have chosen to follow a similar layout to the previous pages with the exception of the portrait having a full bleed to the edge of the page, not allowing room for a white border. The photograph on the left displays the view from a courtyard in the centre of town. The portrait on the right shows a man, who appears to be a carpenter or builder, at work leaning in a doorway.
For the centre page I have placed my black and white landscape image of a run down building in town. Here I have chosen to make the image full bleed, as I think that it will be more impactful without a white border around it. This building is located around the centre of town, which I think ties together the theme of divisions as it provides a place of intersectionality.
For this next page I have swap around the order of the portrait and architecture photographs to continue the theme of alternating between black and white landscape and colour portrait. These pages reflect the pages before the centre page, with the portrait being full bleed instead of having a white border.
This page displays a portrait of two men who appeared to be on a break and standing outside the door of their workplace, next to a black and white image of St. Thomas’ church which is a strong signifier for this community, due to the large scale of the building and its towering over the rest of town.
For the final double page I have showcases an image of a woman on her balcony looking down into the courtyard I was standing in, placed next to a block of flats that I thought looked similar to the exterior of the building this lady was in.
For the back cover, I have chosen another photograph of two houses and doors side by side in order to replicate the front cover. This creates a sense of symmetry within the zine. In addition, the two different colours of the house increase message of duality and separate communities within St. Helier.
NARRATIVE is essentially the way a story is told. For example you can tell different narratives of the same story. It is a very subjective process and there is no right or wrong. Whether or not your photographic story is any good is another matter. Narrative is constructed when you begin to create relationships between images (and/or text) and present more than two images together. Your selection of images (editing) and the order of how these images appear on the pages (sequencing) contributes significantly to the construction of the narrative. So too, does the structure and design of the photo-zine. However, it is essential that you identity what your story is first before considering how you wish to tell it.
Once you have considered the points made between the differences in narrative and story, write the following:
The difference between narrative and a story is the sequence in which it’s told. A story can be completely changed through its narrative
STORY: What is your migrant community story? Describe in:
3 words
Family, Homesickness, Jersey
A sentence
We moved to Jersey to be with family.
A paragraph
I moved to Jersey as a baby. My mum was born here but had moved to the England for school where she met my dad, settled down, and had me. When I was one my parents decided to move back to Jersey so my mum could be with her family and raise their own family there as it was a good place to grow up.
NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?
Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots
Archives > images from SJ photo-archive, family album, mobile
Texts > letters, documents, poems, text messages
AUDIENCE: Who is it for?
Reflect and comment on this in your specification (age group, demographic, social/ cultural background etc.
Think about visual relationship between images and their juxtaposition e.g colour, shapes, subject, repetition, landscape, portrait, objects, details etc.
Here is an example of how narrative is used. We were giving as selection of photos which we sequenced to create a narrative story on the theme of war
During the summer it is important that you keep training your eye and practice making images. Below are two task COMMUNITY (photo-assignment) and another FAMILY ARCHIVE (research) that you can work on during the summer break which will prepare you for the next academic year in September.
Publish all your work on the blog before returning to school on Tue 7 September. Best of luck!
PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT:How might you represent the best aspects of the community you belong to – or even set out to develop a stronger sense of community via photography?
You can either decide to continue to revisit an area of St Helier that represents a migrant community or approach this photo-assignment in a new way that is linked more directly to your own community of where you live.
Imagine you were the official photographer of your street, neighbourhood, town or city. You have been commissioned to create a sequence of photographs celebrating the spirit of this place and its people. These images will be published in various forms – in a free newspaper, on posters in bus shelters, on postcards , on advertising hoardings etc. You are limited to 10 pictures in total. Make a larger body of images, then edit these down to just 10. Arrange in a sequence or collage. What story do they tell? What are the challenges of an activity such as this and how might you set out to overcome these?
There are different approaches to how photographers work with a community. Either as a outsider looking in or as an insider who is part of that community. The best work often emerges from photographers who work with a social group that they are familiar with or have a personal connection to. A community can be defined as a group of people who share the same values, cultural codes and perform certain social rituals. This group could be family and friends or an estate or a neighbourhood. It could be a recreational activity or a sport.
BLOG > PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT
Produce at least 3 photo-shoots!
Review and evaluate your shoots as they develop
Identity weaknesses and strength
Plan and re-visit for a new shoot that adds value to what you already have.
You have to ask yourself: Am I satisfied that I have enough images/ material? What are you going to do differently on next shoot? How are you going to develop your ideas?
These images could become part of Personal Study that we will develop later in the autumn term. You could produce another photo-zine based on this summer project and any work that you produce will be assessed as part of your Personal Investigation (coursework) awarding you marks based on skills, knowledge and understanding of photography as a tool for communication in narrative, sequence and design.
INSPIRATION: IN PROGRESS
IN PROGRESS: Laia Abril – Hoda Afshar – Widline Cadet – Adama Jalloh – Alba Zari at the RPS Gallery (20 May – 31 October 2021) commissioned by the RPS as part of Bristol Photo Festival. They are designed with students in mind, particularly visitors aged 11 to 18. However, they can be enjoyed by all and easily adapted for a younger (or older) audience.
The Royal Photographic Society is an international educational charity committed to bringing photography to everyone. Founded when photography was in its infancy in 1853, today the RPS is a world-leading photographic community with a membership of 10,700 photographers worldwide. The RPS Gallery is situated in the photography hub at Paintworks, Bristol, UK.
This exhibition is a celebration of contemporary photography at its most diverse, dynamic and progressive. Five distinct solo exhibitions are presented together. Aaron Schuman, the curator, has selected these photographers to collectively represent some of the varied and exciting approaches being taken towards photography now.
Contemporary photography often involves an “expanded” practice – ways of thinking, making and presenting that extend beyond established disciplines and photographic traditions to more fluid and responsive ways of working. Contemporary artists may have a critical or questioning attitude to photography and its histories – a less dogmatic, not-so-fixed understanding of what it means to be a photographer. Contemporary photographers can also be excited by new modes of production and distribution, and new ways to tell their stories.
The images on show in this exhibition provide some clues about the direction in which photography is travelling. It makes for a fascinating show for young creatives to explore and respond to.
CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: Produce a blog post where you REVIEW the exhibition IN PROGRESS and consider the following:
What does the title ‘In Progress’ suggest about the nature of the work on show?
What connotations does the word ‘progress’ have for you?
In what ways do you think photography has changed in the last 5 years? What new concerns, agendas, or motivations might contemporary photographers have now, or in the near future?
What are/were your expectations for this exhibition? What are your expectations for any exhibition of photography? Are there certain images, themes or ways of presenting that you would expect to encounter? In what ways might this exhibition support or contradict your expectations?
EXTENTION: ARTISTS REFERENCES
Produce an in-depth study of one of the artists in the exhibition Laia Abril, Hoda Afshar , Widline Cadet, Adama Jalloh or Alba Zari.
LAIA ABRIL: On Menstruation Myths
“Are you sick?” I remember being asked when I was a teenager. People were questioning whether or not I was on my period. Even though I wasn’t supposed to exercise or swim —or apparently make mayonnaise; I never actually perceived those myths as affecting my daily life. However, I remember learning that society had mandated that getting my period should remain a secret. The same ritual that was supposed to symbolize that I had “become a woman,” came with an unbearable pain that was normalised. — Laia Abril
Abril’s work ‘On Menstruation Myths’ is a chapter of a larger body of work entitled ‘A History of Misogyny’. The artist explores the misunderstandings, silences, miseducation and physical pain associated with menstruation. Abril admits to having found the subject of menstruation personally embarrassing. She asks questions about what it means to be a woman, why menstruation is a source of shame, why some young women are denied their basic rights and why myths about menstruation have such deep cultural roots. Abril deliberately creates aesthetically appealing images in order to persuade viewers to spend time with them and read the accompanying text. It is important to her to have both men and women see the work since menstruation is a human rights issue. The combination of blue and red is a kind of visual game since, for many years, advertisers of sanitary products chose blue, rather than red, to indicate menstrual blood. Abril searches for appropriate visual metaphors that synthesise her ideas and arouse curiosity.
For discussion:
What kind of research has the artist done in order to explore this subject?
Why is the subject of menstruation such a source of embarrassment and shame?
What challenges might the artist have faced in choosing to make images about menstruation?
How has the artist chosen to visually present a potentially alienating subject? Which of these do you find most intriguing, appealing, uncomfortable, effective or informative?
What are the potential advantages or disadvantages of tackling (addressing, representing, depicting) a subject indirectly – using objects or associated images as visual metaphors or representations?
Do you think photography has the power to educate and change both opinions and public policy? Can you think of alternative examples where this has happened? What issues or injustices might your own photography explore or address?
Have your views or knowledge of menstruation been altered by seeing this work?
Hoda Afshar: Agonistes
The whistleblower is the modern tragic figure in our current society. For me it was about the character, not the individuals, it was about their actions, and at the heart of it, there was something that reminded me of the Greek tragedies. That’s why I chose the title Agonistes, because this is a Greek word that means personal injury and an inner struggle. — Hoda Afshar
The 110 synchronised cameras used by Afshar to photograph her subjects.
For discussion:
Why do you think Afshar chose not to photograph her subjects directly? What risks are involved for both photographer and subject in this project?
What role does research play in Afshar’s practice?
Why might a contemporary photographer using new technologies choose to reference ancient ideas and methods of working?
What do you notice about the way the sitters are filmed in the accompanying video?
Why is the accompanying text (caption) for each picture so important?
Why do you think the artist was so fascinated and troubled by the fate of these whistleblowers? What issues does she expose through the exhibition of these images?
Have you ever spoken-out regarding an injustice to others; shared a wrong-doing with the hope of positive repair and action? If so, how did you feel? And how would you then feel about being photographed and presented in an exhibition? Why might someone choose to photograph you for this?
Most of the photographs are of Black women and greenery and these abstract landscapes. — Widline Cadet
Widline Cadet was born in Haiti and lives in the United States. Her work explores cultural identity, race, memory and immigration through photography, video and installation. ‘Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance)’ is a series of self-portraits, sometimes featuring Cadet but also using friends and family to stand in for her. Female figures are placed in natural settings. Repetitive gestures, shapes and props tie the images together. Backdrops, poses and an element of abstraction remind us of the constructed nature of photographic images. The pictures are suffused with a warm glow, an idyllic sense of calm and graceful positivity. Women support one another, literally and metaphorically.
“Serious hopefulness” is a phrase Cadet has used to describe the intention behind her photography. What does this phrase suggest to you? Can you see evidence of this combination of seriousness and hope in her images? Is it possible to identify specific aspects – subjects, gestures, interactions, relationships, expressions, colours, and so on – that might be considered more (or less) serious or hopeful? Are black and white photographs more serious and/or less hopeful than colour images?
How would you describe the relationship between figures and landscapes in these photographs?
The title of this series of photographs is quite complex. What does it suggest to you? What types of ritual are presented in the pictures? What or who is both appearing and disappearing?
When a person’s face is concealed (or part-concealed) within a photograph, what possibilities (or problems) can arise for the viewer? Does this concealment have the potential to provoke more (or less) intrigue, mystery, empathy or emotion?
How and where would you choose to represent yourself through photography? If you had to choose someone else to stand-in as a representation of you, who would you choose and why?
Adama Jalloh: Process
Street photography has trained my eyes and my ears […] even if I haven’t seen something, if I hear it that’s when I’m preparing to take a shot […] it’s interesting how my body reacts to certain things, how alert I am — Adama Jalloh
Jalloh describes her photographs as ways to keep memories alive. She grew up in south London and makes photographs on the street. She explores cultural traditions, religious beliefs, clothes and hair styles, sensitively drawing attention to intimate moments and relationships. Jalloh appreciates her local environment, documenting the lives of ordinary citizens, creating (over time) a rich archive of everyday interactions. These images are a way to create a collective memory bank of moments, a love story about belonging, charisma, survival and joy in the city. Jalloh’s photographic memories belong to the whole community. It’s important for her to bond with her subjects. Jalloh is an insider (to borrow Abigail Solomon-Godeau‘s term), a trusted witness rather than a cultural tourist. She collaborates with her subjects, allowing them to present version of themselves to her camera without judgement.
For discussion:
Jalloh uses the word “intimacy” a lot to describe the quality of her images. In what ways are her photographs intimate? What other qualities do they have?
How reliable are photographs in conveying the experience of a photographer in a particular moment? Can photographs evoke particular – or new – sensations, sounds, smells, tastes, emotions or anxieties?
How does photography help to develop our understanding and appreciation of places and people, known and unknown?
What kind of person comes to mind when you think of a street photographer? How does Jalloh challenge/confirm this stereotype?
What skills or personal qualities do you need to be a street photographer? How might these skills vary when in different cities, countries or cultures?
What (if anything) distinguishes a ‘street photograph’ from other images taken in the street, such as a photograph of a building, or a person posing for camera?
Why do you think the majority of Jalloh’s images are black and white? What are the advantages or disadvantages of photographing in black and white?
Alba Zari: Occult
I don’t think about photography as a “I have a camera; I will shoot some pictures because…”. Sometimes I see someone that looks interesting and think “I’d like to take some pictures of them” but I don’t bring my camera with me. I think photography is like a story, a concept, so if I find an interesting story I write and research before shooting it.
Zari was born in Bangkok and has studied in Italy and the USA. Her current project ‘Occult’ tells the story of The Children of God, originally a hippy cult from the California of the late 1960s which has now spread across the world. The cult believes in ‘free love’ but this includes instances of the sexual abuse of children, incest and prostitution. Zari’s grandmother and mother were both members and she was born into the cult. Her research has taken place in London but she intends to travel to shoot the images in Berlin, India and Thailand. The work draws on her family archive, propagandist comics, texts and videos, and archive images of other members of the sect taken from the internet. Zari assembles fragments of text and images, clues to a larger narrative. She investigates the cult’s propaganda machine, contrasting the public image of belonging, joy and faith with the story of one family’s troubling experiences. She also draws attention to the fate of other women and children outside her own family. Zari reveals the capacity of photographs to tell lies but how they can also be made to reveal the truth. The combination of text and image is central to the work.
For discussion:
Zari’s practice is rooted in both personal experience and research. What are the potential problems, advantages or disadvantages of this combination? How objective – not influenced by personal feelings or opinions – should (or can) research be?
How does Zari combine archival material with images she shoots herself? What kinds of stories does she tell? Which of her images, above, might you consider the most reliable or truthful? What words help to explain some of the differences between these images and approaches?
How would you describe Zari’s attitude to the medium of photography?
How accessible – easy to understand or connect with – are these selected images, above? How does encountering them as a collection influence your understanding or experience? Do they appear fragmented, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? How might the sequence, scale or context in which you encounter them alter your interpretation? (Note: the images above have been selected from available online resources and organised here by PhotoPedagogy rather than the artist).
Some suggested activities:
NOTE: The activities within this resource are designed to be accessible for all and therefore can (mostly) be completed with basic art materials and a digital camera.
Gather, review and research a selection of photographs that are meaningful to you. They could be pictures you admire, pictures from a family album, photographs of friends, favourite images you have made and look at regularly. What stories do they tell about you, directly or indirectly? How might you make this collection more – or less – truthful or peculiar? How might you present these in a playful or profound way, for example, using various scales; concealing or revealing aspects; adding accompanying texts? How might you share these pictures with others – a slideshow, a film, an exhibition or a zine/book, for example?
What would you like to understand better (and how might photography help you to do this)? Make a list of topics/issues that you find mysterious, troubling, urgent … but which you know little about. Do some research and make a dossier of your discoveries. Once you have amassed some information in various forms (photocopies, notes, lists, links to videos, printed images etc.) try to make some photographs of your own. You may decide to stage these images, filling in the gaps and inventing scenarios that don’t already exist. Alternatively (or additionally), you might attempt to document aspects of the story, capturing evidence of the issue you have researched in the real world.
Experiment with making a series of self-portraits in which you don’t always personally appear. Look again at the work of Widline Cadet. She sometimes uses friends and family members to stand in for her. You could try this too. But how else might you represent yourself? Consider using objects (props), settings (backdrops), lighting, costumes and other theatrical devices to present a (fictional) version of you. You might wish to experiment with old photographs of you as a child, manipulating, disrupting and/or re-presenting them in some way. How can you convey a sense of who you are without relying on a conventional self-portrait?
How might you represent the best aspects of the community you belong to – or even set out to develop a stronger sense of community via photography? Imagine you were the official photographer of your street, neighbourhood, town or city. You have been commissioned to create a sequence of photographs celebrating the spirit of this place and its people. These images will be published in various forms – in a free newspaper, on posters in bus shelters, on postcards , on advertising hoardings etc. You are limited to 10 pictures in total. Make a larger body of images, then edit these down to just 10. Arrange in a sequence or collage. What story do they tell? What are the challenges of an activity such as this and how might you set out to overcome these?
Re-tell in photographs a story or scene remembered from your childhood. Adama Jalloh sometimes finds scenes in her everyday life that remind her of her childhood. You may be able to do something similar, perhaps revisiting childhood locations that are meaningful to you. Alternatively, you could re-enact through staging (collaborating with relatives or friends) a childhood memory. You might even take part in this yourself, directing (rather than taking) the photograph. You could experiment with using different types of text as captions or accompanying information. You might choose to revisit a street, park or area of personal significance, or perhaps reconnect with an old friend or family member.
Stage a collaborative pop-up exhibition. How might you team up with classmates, friends or even family members to present a group show? What shared or distinct ideas might you bring together? Where might be an appropriate – or unexpected – place to exhibit your collective efforts? Rather than worrying about expensive framing or gallery-like spaces, consider easily accessed environments and existing resources, such as displaying within classroom or corridor spaces or floors, or upon outside walls, fences, benches or washing lines. Beyond working as artists and photographers to prepare, what other skills and roles might you need to embrace? How might your exhibition be a force for good, or positive change or connections, within or beyond your group of friends, family, school or community?
FAMILY ARCHIVES: Explore your own private archives such as photo-albums, home movies, diaries, letters, birth-certificates, boxes, objects, mobile devices, online/ social media platforms and make a blog post with a selection of material that can be used for further development and experimentation using a variety of re-staging or montage techniques .
Archives can be a rich source for finding starting points on your creative journey. This will strengthen your research and lead towards discoveries about the past that will inform the way you interpret the present and anticipate the future. See more Public/ Private Archives
For example, you can focus on the life on one parent, grand-parent, family relative, or your own childhood and upbringing. Ask other family members (parents, grand-parents, aunties, uncles) if you can look through their photo-albums too etc.
Family photo-albumsDigital images stored on mobile phones, uploaded on social media etc.
TASKS STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE:
Either scan or re-photograph archival material so that it is digitised and ready for use on the blog and further experimentation.
Plan at least one photo-shoot and make a set of images that respond to your archival research. This can be re-staging old photos or make a similar set of images, eg. portraits of family members and how they have changed over the years, or snapshots of social and family gatherings.
Choose one of your images which relates to the theme of family (e.g. archive, family album, or new image you have made) and destroy the same image in 5 different ways using both analogue and digital method techniques. Eg. Reprint old and new photos and combine using scissors/ tearing and glue/ tape. In Photoshop use a variety of creative tools to cut and paste fragments of images to create composites.
Extension: Choose a second image and destroy it in 5 new or other ways.
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Under Oath, 2017
Jonny Briggs: 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. Through these I use photography to explore my relationship with deception, the constructed reality of the family, and question the boundaries between my parents and I, between child/adult, self/other, nature/culture, real/fake in attempt to revive my unconditioned self, beyond the family bubble. Although easily assumed to be photoshopped or faked, upon closer inspection the images are often realised to be more real than first expected. Involving staged installations, the cartoonesque and the performative, I look back to my younger self and attempt to re-capture childhood nature through my assuming adult eyes.
Thomas Sauvin and Kensuke Koike: ‘No More, No Less’ In 2015, French artist Thomas Sauvin acquired an album produced in the early 1980s by an unknown Shanghai University photography student. This volume was given a second life through the expert hands of Kensuke Koike, a Japanese artist based in Venice whose practice combines collage and found photography. The series, “No More, No Less”, born from the encounter between Koike and Sauvin, includes new silver prints made from the album’s original negatives. These prints were then submitted to Koike’s sharp imagination, who, with a simple blade and adhesive tape, deconstructs and reinvents the images. However, these purely manual interventions all respect one single formal rule: nothing is removed, nothing is added, “No More, No Less”. In such a context that blends freedom and constraint, Koike and Sauvin meticulously explore the possibilities of an image only made up of itself.
Veronica GesickaTraces presents a selection of photomontages created by Weronika Gęsicka on the basis of American stock photographs from the 1950s and 1960s. Family scenes, holiday memories, everyday life – all of that suspended somewhere between truth and fiction. The images, modified by Gęsicka in various ways, are wrapped in a new context: our memories of the people and situations are transformed and blur gradually. Humorous as they may seem, Gęsicka’s works are a comment on such fundamental matters as identity, self-consciousness, relationships, imperfection.
Mask XIV 2006
John Stezaker: Is a British artist who is fascinated by the lure of images. Taking classic movie stills, vintage postcards and book illustrations, Stezaker makes collages to give old images a new meaning. By adjusting, inverting and slicing separate pictures together to create unique new works of art, Stezaker explores the subversive force of found images. Stezaker’s famous Mask series fuses the profiles of glamorous sitters with caves, hamlets, or waterfalls, making for images of eerie beauty.
His ‘Dark Star’ series turns publicity portraits into cut-out silhouettes, creating an ambiguous presence in the place of the absent celebrity. Stezaker’s way of giving old images a new context reaches its height in the found images of his Third Person Archive: the artist has removed delicate, haunting figures from the margins of obsolete travel illustrations. Presented as images on their own, they now take the centre stage of our attention
There are different ways artists and photographers have explored their own, or other families in their work as visual storytellers. Some explore family using a documentary approach to storytelling, others construct or stage images that may reflect on their childhood, memories, or significant events drawing inspiration from family archives/ photo albums and often incorporating vernacular images into the narrative and presenting the work as a photobook.
Rita Puig-Serra Costa (Where Mimosa Bloom) vs Laia Abril (The Epilogue)> artists exploring personal issues > vernacular vs archival > inside vs outside
Rita Puig-Serra Coasta, Where Mimosa BloomLaia Abril, The Epiloque
Carole Benitah (Photo Souvenirs) vs Diane Markosian (Inventing My Father) > family > identity > memory > absence > trauma
Carole Benitah, Photo-SouvenirsThis is the closet thing I had to an image of my father. A cut out of him in my mother’s photo album.
Ugne Henriko (Mother and Daughter) vs Irina Werning or Chino Otsuka > re-staging images > re-enacting memories
Victor Hugo was born February 26, 1802 in Besançon and died May 22, 1885 in Paris. He was a French poet and playwrighter , he marked the history of the nineteenth century, and is still recognized thanks to his literary works, and also by his political speeches. He wrote works very well known as Les Châtiments (1853), Les Contemplations (1856) and Les Misérables in 1862.
To Jersey from France
Because of his political opinion, Victor Hugo could not stay in France during the reign of Napoleon III, and had to refuge in a discreet place. He moved to Jersey in 1852 and he stayed until 1855. Thanks to his refuge he was able to publish his political pamphlet against Napoleon III Napoléon le Petit and Histoire d’un crime. During his period of leaving in jersey he also composed and published some of his best work like Les Misérables, Les Châtiments 1853; Les Contemplations 1856 and La Légende des siècles 1859. Very quickly Victor Hugo becomes very interested in photography. He wants to use it as a political tool to show his image in France. So it becomes a family affair. His sons Charles and, François-Victor, organize a photographic workshop . The Jersey workshop was a unique adventure. It was both a look at the landscape that sometimes inspired Victor Hugo’s drawings and a testimony to an outlaw in exile. The Jersey Workshop was a photographic studio in the greenhouse at Marine Terrace. Victor Hugo’s project was to create a book on the Channel Islands illustrated with images. But the book was never finished, he still produced an intense production of salted paper prints. The purpose of the workshop was to preserve the memory of the exiles, the portraits which were taken were placed in many albums which were sometimes adorned with paintings or collages by Charles Hugo.
STORY: What is your migrant community story? Describe in:
3 Words: A migrant story.
A Sentence: A migrant story which foregrounds the various cultural identities that exist within the different parts of St. Helier.
A Paragraph: The migrant community story I wish to present is one of cultural diversity. With this my aim is to display the different quarters located in town, which traditionally were exclusive to various migrant communities. These include the French and Portuguese quarter, the merchant quarter and the British expat and wealthy quarter. These quarters of town originated from migrants arriving in Jersey for work and new opportunities for their families, providing Jersey with goods and labour in return. This in turn resulted in these micro communities within the parish of St. Helier, which encapsulate the food, religions and trades belonging to these migrants.
NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?
I will tell this migrant community story through a series of portraits of the people who belong and shape these varied communities in St. Helier, juxtaposed with the architectural landscapes they live, pray and work in, displaying their impact on how the island’s capital looks. I will collect these images from a series of photoshoots, which will take place in and around the migrant quarters in town. With this hopefully an audience will be able to have a visual representation of the mass amount of cultural diversity this island possesses. These photoshoots will be taken in instalments of revisits to these areas, allowing for an opportunity to show change and a growing sense of familiarity and knowledge of the people and communities.
AUDIENCE: Who is it for?
This zine will allow for a look inside the lives of people in Jersey, meaning this could be well received by someone foreign to the Island wanting to gain an insight to the Island’s cultural diversity. This is as it demonstrates how communities that were brought to the island hundreds of years ago in order to boost the economy, amongst other things, have evolved and helped shape the future of the island. In addition, this zine may be beneficial to people interested in migrating to Jersey who are 20-40, due to the fact that it presents a welcoming attitude to new communities that help grow a more multicultural and accepting place. Furthermore, they will see a representation of their ages group in these images, giving them a better chance to relate and connect with these images, also whilst seeing what life could be like for them here. On the other hand, it can also be said that this zine may be best received by Jersey islanders that are not from St. Helier, within the age group of 14-18 year olds. This is due to the fact that it gives younger natives that live in more rural areas a chance to recognise how large our migrant community is here, as they may not have been explicitly educated on Jersey’s relationship with migration in the past. This was the case for me whilst producing images for this zine, as I was not as familiar as I should have been with the varied cultures and the history of their impact on the island, however this in turn gave me a new perspective of the Island I have lived on my whole life.
My visit to the Jersey Museum began with a dive into an exhibition room with multitudes of well designed walls detailing Jerseys lengthily history which began almost 250,000 years ago when the first people arrived in Jersey and continues through the centuries to explore the factors that have shaped this unique Island and the people who live here. This intrigued my interest in immigration and specifically how people from all over the globe come together in an inspiring feat of unity. This interest can be sourced from the fact that I am an immigrant in many forms as I have lived in a few countries and all of them have been extensively culturally diverse such as the place I call my home; South Africa. Which is just like Jersey in terms of its diversity.
I moved to the island just 3 years ago. 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.’ This statement immediately creates an a sense of belonging and inclusivity for me being a recent immigrant to the island considering that everyone has a story they can share and relate to one another with, even the most local islanders.
The section of the museum we visited first focused on immigration to jersey and tells the story about why people have moved here over the centuries.
One of the areas of the exhibition I was most interested in was the section on tourism to jersey. Jersey saw a boom in tourism in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
It was nicknamed honeymoon island as it was a favourite location for newlyweds. Jersey attracted this boom of people as it had everything people wanted when they started looking to holiday in the post WWII years. Jersey was an escape from life on the mainland and it had better weather and better beaches.
Everything in jersey at the time was also much cheaper which attracted even more holiday goers.
This boom in travel to Jersey changed the island in many ways. Just one example being the fact that aeroplanes used to land on the beach at low tide in jersey but due to the boom they built an airport. This segment of the exhibition took my attention due to the fascinating and aesthetic vintage travel posters used by British and Irish airlines and French railway lines to advertise travel to the island
This part of the exhibition also rang bells in another personal way for me. It relates to another South Africa to Jersey migration story. The story begins with a pair of South African surfers in the 60s got fired from the Umhlanga Hotel for swinging on the chandeliers. I grew up surfing in this area and this is a hotel I have stayed in many times so this story has many personal connections with my life and to learn about these migration stories is incredibly compelling and fulfilling. The surfers then decided to hop on a boat to the UK after getting fired from their job to look for greater opportunities. While working in the UK they realised that the cold, rainy weather and being far from the ocean was not for them. One evening they spotted perfect curling waves and blue skies on a Jersey tourism ad during the time of the tourism boom and hopped on the next boat over. They built their own boards and began surfing down at St Ouen’s Bay. The owner of the Watersplash restaurant and night club at the time noticed the lads and due to the increased number of ocean related deaths happening outside the restaurant, he decided to hire them as head lifeguards. The South African lifeguards continued to surf outside the Watersplash and this grabbed the attention of the local islanders as surfing had not yet arrived on the island. The two men had created a surge in popularity for surfing in Jersey and are responsible for bringing one of Jerseys most popular sports to the island.
The Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive is a key part of Jersey’s history and an indispensable tool that allows us to gain knowledge and understanding of our past, not just as an island but as individuals. This institution was founded in 1873, 33 years after photography was first introduced to the island, with the intention of collecting documentary records of the times. After 148 years, this archive has now accumulated to over 36,000 images and 100,000 items that tell a story of Jersey’s past residents, architecture, landscapes and more. With this collection we are able to view what life was like during various historical periods that were significant in shaping the Jersey we live in today. This includes the German occupation during World War Two, in which photography aided us in remembering why we celebrate our gained freedom, and the hardships others went through in order to get it. An archival image is not required to be the most impressive and aesthetically pleasing photograph ever created, but only needs to tell a story that needs to or should be remembered. That is why, we may not realise it however, even the most casual photography we do in day-to-day life, whether it be the collection of photos on a platform such as Instagram or just a single image amongst thousands of others on your phone, it could be a crucial archive of the times we live in now. It can be argued that this has become even more true during the past year, as due to Covid 19 our photographs will provide people in the future with an insight into our lives during these difficult times.
Photographer Emile Guiton
There are many photographers that played an important part in the early days of photography in Jersey, but it can be said that Emile Guiton’s work was some of the most influential and important for the island. Born in 1879, Guiton was a Jersey native credited with being one of the founding members of the Société Jersiaise, helping build up this crucial collection of images with his photographic career that spanned from 1910 up to his death in 1972. The subjects that were of interest to Guiton varied from archaeological excavations to still life images, leaving this amateur photographer with a large amount of creative freedom. This side of Guiton that was fascinated with documentary photography resulted with him being one of the few to be issued a permit, allowing him to photograph the German Occupation during the Second World War. With this record of history, we are able to gain knowledge of not only Guiton’s artistic viewpoint of everyday life during war, but the what the German army wished to be recorded. This may have included Guiton’s many different photographs of German artillery around the island, which could have been used to aid the Germans in projecting their power. As well as this, Guiton’s career also entailed some of the first experimentation with colour photography, using the method of Autochrome. This allowed a whole new perspective of life in Jersey, with colour bringing the streets of St. Helier to life, in turn resulting in viewers being able to connect and relate to these images more.
Emile Guiton, Marett Road
This colour photograph taken by Emile Guiton displays a residential street located in St. Helier containing a car and two children, one in the foreground and one in the background. Here leading lines are created by the dark strip of cobblestone running through the centre of the street, resulting in the viewers eye being led deeper into the heavily housed area. Contrast in this image can be seen through the juxtaposition of the light brick houses and the dark clothing the children are wearing, as they lean against the wall. In addition, it can be said that the right half of the image contrasts with the left, due to the shadows of the houses that shed onto the street. From this it is clear that Guiton used only natural light to take this photograph, as he does with his other images. Also it can be said that it was most likely taken in the hours leading up to sunset, due to the length of the shadows and the slight golden glow. In order to produce this colour photograph, Guiton used a process named Autochrome, invented by the Lumière brothers in 1903. This method consisted of one glass plate, covered in a thin layer of potato starch grains dyed green, red and blue that acted as a filter. This would then be given a coat of varnish before and after passing through a high pressure roller, followed by a layer of emulsion. Finally this would then be flipped and placed into the camera where the light would pass through and create and image. This is said to be one of the first colour images of a street in that parish, giving us an insight into what domestic and community life was like. From this image it could be said that this part of St. Helier was once a seemingly quiet and peaceful area, contrasting to what we now consider the busiest and most lively parish on the island.
In conclusion, it is clear that the use of archives aids us in gaining knowledge of past events and past day-to-day life. Whether a photograph displays soldiers marching through the streets or a family outing, there is still information to be gained as a community. An archive such as the Societe Jersiaise allows us to view life from the perspective of hundreds of photographers from different backgrounds, all aiming to capture Jersey in a unique way. Furthermore, as this archive continues to grow so does the story of this island. With what I have learnt from this, as a photographer, I would aim to take a more documentary approach to my work, after discovering there is more value in the un-staged than I previously thought. Although the changing architecture of the island tells an interesting story of the past, I believe that the inhabitants of Jersey are clear signifiers of what makes this islands culture what it is today, which is what I would like to focus on in the future.
