‘No Place Like Home takes as its starting point a subject of increasing concern and tension in the 21st century, affecting all aspects of society and identity. Twenty-three acclaimed artists cast multiple threads of inquiry to consider the idea of Home for this exhibition.

When we think of home do we think of planet earth or something on a smaller scale; the shelter we find to sleep or the relationships that hold us together? Across the UK, homes are less affordable now than they have been at any time in housing history. The context for this show is the Channel Island of Jersey where rents and mortgages can reach an eye-watering 90% of income. We may all yearn for a home but this basic need is charged with political, social and economic realities; borders shift, relationships fracture, rules change, and forced migrations impact on the incredibly fragile thing that we call Home. Home can be a sanctuary or a place of danger, it might be stable or temporary, intimate or shared, rooted for generations or a refuge in times of need. Home might be a person, a community to which we belong or contested land that is no longer available to us, homes are full of histories, meanings and tensions; subject to external forces and internal dramas

No Place Like Home delves into personal stories, global issues, childhood memories, and speculative worlds as well as the bleak realities of the current housing market. Addressing raw and painful topics such as war, migration, violence, love and loss, these artists do not shy away from difficult issues, but rather tackle them with inventiveness, honesty and hope.

The exhibition features newly commissioned artworks by Rachel Ara (Jersey), Sasha Bowles (UK), Ana vorovié (Bosnia/UK), Justin Hibbs (UK), Daria Koltsova (Ukraine/UK), Will Romeril (Jersey), Lindsay Rutter (Jersey), and Lisa Traxler (Isle of Wight/UK) alongside existing artworks work by artists including: Jananne Al-Ani (Iraq/UK), Jackie Berridge (UK), George Bolster (Ire/USA), Peter Jones (UK), Peter Liversidge (UK), Harriet Mena Hill (UK), Kate Murdoch (UK), Ravelle Pillay (South Africa), Saba Qizilbash (Pakistan/UAE), Martha Rostler (USA), Judith Tucker (UK), Joanna Whittle (UK), Eddie Wong (Malaysia/NZ) and Andrea V Wright (UK).

No Place Like Home also extends beyond the gallery to include Luke Jerram’s Floating Earth, an ode to the precious planet we live on and the fragility of water sited at Queen’s Valley Reservoir.

Rachel Ara’s Dissent Module, an otherworldly happening that leaves its debris by the roadside and in our minds, and Lisa Traxler’s sculpture Ghost Echo, sited at the entrance to Jersey War Tunnels that draws upon occupation history, bunker structures and early warning radar systems.

Within the gallery Justin Hibbs’ For the Attention of the Homeowner takes the form of a living room in which visitors are invited to assume a temporary residence in a space curated by the artist and, as homeowners, visitors can open mail, play records, read books and curate their own ‘shelfies’.

No Place Like Home is curated by Rosalind Davis and Laura Hudson and presented by Arthouse Jersey.’

– Art House Jersey

Harriet Mena Hill, UK Aylesbury

Estate Fragments

Acrylic on salvaged demolition concrete, 2020

Since 2018 Hills’ work has been focused on the Aylesbury Estate in South East London investigating how community identity is affected and reframed by the process of redevelopment and gentrification.

The Aylesbury Fragments are an extraordinary act of preservation, rendering scenes of her local architecture directly onto pieces of salvaged material from the Aylesbury Estate, which is being demolished as part of a regeneration program.

The Aylesbury Estate was designed by the architect Hans Peter Trenton and was considered exemplary social housing designed to meet the needs of the people who lived there. The building’s construction began in 1963 and housed approximately 10,000 people. It is now in the final phase of being demolished in order to make way for redevelopment and Hill has spent several years documenting this place as it disappears piece by piece, and at each stage of degradation; as tenants are moved out and those in desperate need are temporarily housed. The concrete is imbued with the contentious history of the site, what remains are fragments of people’s lives.

Martha Rosler, USA – Semiotics of the Kitchen

Video, Performance, RT 6. 15 minutes, 1975

In this performance based work, a static camera is focused on a woman in a kitchen. Rosier adopts the form of a parodic cooking demonstration in which, as Rosier states, “An anti Julia Child replaces the domesticated meaning of tools with a lexicon of rage and frustration.” Made in 1975 this piece is still relevant today, more so perhaps after the experience of lockdown and the burden of domestic work falling mainly to women. We have made major improvements to equality in, law, education, and the workplace but not so much in the Horne.

Ravelle Pillay, SA – Empty Rooms

Two colour lithograph on paper, 30 x 43.5cm, 2023

South African painter Ravelle Pillay uses lithography to document ancestral homes on both sides of her family that are imbued with histories of colonialism and the complex individual stories that shape them.

Empty rooms is a study of two buildings, superimposed on alien landscapes. The sites are related to Pillay’s own history, the first being of her family home built by her maternal great-grandfather in Durban, South Africa informally referred to as ‘the castle’, which was repossessed by the Apartheid government, and which now stands derelict. The second site is the ancestral home of her great-great-grandfather, Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire, England.

Each site, irrespective of their geographical distance, features heavily in the mythologised family histories Pillay grew up listening to.

Rachel Ara, Jersey – Seeking Comfort in an Uncomfortable Housing Market

Digital print on paper, 107×62cm, 2022

In 2021 the artist returned home to Jersey after 3 decades in London, primarily to keep an eye on her parents. Whilst looking for a home and studio, Ara was shocked by the unaffordable rents and chronic housing crisis forcing Jersey workers into cramped and difficult living conditions. This “performance” was her response. With no access to a studio and her tools in storage, Ara made this work with materials to hand; a large cardboard box, some household paint, gaffer tape and a smartphone to record her struggles fitting into a makeshift house unsuitably small for her body.

The format references Bruno Munari’s 1944 classic poster, “Seeking Comfort in an uncomfortable chair” which was a humorous provocation to the design establishment. 80 years later Aras’ work is a provocation to the state of the housing market.

Munari’s title is in both Italian and English, as Aras’ is in English and Portuguese, the second most widely spoken language in Jersey by a community who are disproportionately affected by substandard accommodation.

Governors of Jersey moved their official residence from Mont Orgueil to Elizabeth Castle, which was first used in a military context during the English Civil War in the 17th century. and was built to defend jersey against French invasions and has witnessed many significant events over the centuries. some of the wars that it was used in consist of The English Civil war, the Napoleonic Wars and world war 2.

it took around 70 years to complete the construction of the castle. It was also built in stages, with different sections being added over time. The construction began in the 16th century and continued in stages until the 17th century.

Built on a rocky islet in St. Aubin’s Bay, Elizabeth Castle has defended Jersey for more than 400 years. You can take the amphibious castle ferry or walk out along the causeway at low tide. Elizabeth Castle is the perfect place to spend a day exploring Jersey’s history with the Jersey Militia or castle gunner on parade.

Below is an old map of the castle

The main weapons that they used for defence consist of cannons, muskets and other firearms that where commonly used during that period.

below is some more information that i found on this website

The islet

Elizabeth Castle, as its name suggests, dates from the days of the great Tudor Queen. But its site had long previously been associated with events of local importance, the earliest of which might well be termed legendary rather than historical.

Here, about the year 540 AD, came Helier, the Christian anchorite after whom our town is named. He chose as his habitation a lonely spume-sprayed rock south east of the islet, where his reputed bed, a rough niche in the rock, may still be seen. In the same place, some 15 years later, he was discovered by a band of marauding sea-rovers and put to the sword, thus earning a place in the Calendar as Jersey’s first Christian martyr and patron saint.

The Hermitage, or oratory, which encloses his cell was erected at a much later date, probably in the 12th century.

St Marculf

St Helier was a pupil of St Marculf, to whom is chiefly attributed the conversion of the islanders to Christianity. As the population of Jersey then numbered, we are told, only 30 families, the task was not quite so formidable as it sounds. But the benefits conferred by these pioneers of Christianity were material as well as spiritual. The monasteries which they founded invariably attracted settlers to the district, agriculture and the rudiments of education were taught, and an impetus given to civilisation generally. Shortly after the death of St Helier, St Marculf established a monastic settlement upon the islet, and the agglomeration of peasants’ huts which, as a consequence, sprang up in the near vicinity, formed the foundations of the future town of St Helier. After the death of Marcuif in 558, his work was carried on by St Magloire or Mannelier. In 577 Pretextat, Archbishop of Rouen, as the result of a quarrel with the Frankish King, fled to Jersey and took refuge in the Monastery of the islet. He was the first of the host of political exiles who, throughout history, have found shelter and security on our shores. Jersey’s inclusion in the Empire of Charlemagne is disclosed by the records of the Abbey of Fontenelle, which state that the Emperor sent Abbot Gerwold on a diplomatic mission to Augia, as it was then termed, in 790.Towards the end of the ninth century, Norse raiders again descended on the Islet and St Marculf’s Monastery was laid in ruins.

When laying out my zine, I tried to group them together depending on colours or dimensions

Chris Marker was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia and film essayist with his best known piece being La Jatee created in 1962. He has had some good credibility because of his abilities in his creative, and analysis aspects.

Mark was almost an ominous man, frequently refusing to do interviews or talking too much about his work. People have even debated on where he was even born, but it is known that he had joined the French resistance during WWII, and later in his life joined the United States Air Force. This was speculated as a lie but was later proven by Chris Marker’s journalism after the war, working for a number of companies in journalism, writing about political commentaries, poems, and film reviews. This led him to travel the world doing photography and journalism, eventually publishing his first novel. “His elusiveness was a tool for creation. It furnished him with freedom”. Clearly Mark was not a person for fame, as he didn’t give many interviews, which allowed him to peruse Directing and film making with a clear head, as it says he went with freedom.

La jatee

Marker became international after creating this short film which was made as a photomontage using up to 800 images that Chris had taken throughout the 26 counties he had been to over the years. The film is about a post-nuclear experiment in time travel, where a survivor is obsessed over distant and disconnected memories about a pier with the image being a mysterious woman and a mans death. The scientists in the “time travel” choose this survivor for their studies. The man travel back in time to contact the mysterious woman, but ends up discovering that the mans death at the pier was his own. This is supposed to reflect the fragility of memory and how possible it is to become destroyed and distorted.

About the filmmaker – Chris Marker

Chris Marker (29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012) was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist who has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. His best known film, La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel.

Full film

A man is a prisoner in the aftermath a nuclear war, where survivors live underground. Scientists research time travel, hoping to send test subjects to different time periods “to call past and future to the rescue of the present.” They have difficulty finding subjects who can mentally deal with time travel, many of them go crazy or die. The scientists eventually settle upon the man, he has a key to the past because he has an obsessive memory from his pre-war childhood of a woman he had seen on the observation platform at Orly Airport shortly before witnessing a man die.

After several attempts, he reaches the pre-war period. He meets the woman from his memory. After his successful passages to the past, the experimenters attempt to send him into the far future. In a brief meeting with the technologically advanced people of the future, he is given a power unit sufficient to regenerate his own destroyed society.

Upon his return, with his mission accomplished, he discerns that he is to be executed by his jailers. He is contacted by the people of the future, who offer to help him escape to their time permanently; but he asks instead to be returned to the pre-war time of his childhood, hoping to find the woman again. He is returned to the past, placed on the observation deck at the airport. He is concerned with locating the woman, and quickly spots her. However, as he rushes to her, he notices an agent of his experimenters has followed him and realizes the agent is there to kill him. In his final moments, he comes to understand that the death he witnessed as a child, which has haunted him ever since, was his own death.

Société Jersiaise is an archive of photos that contains the History, culture, environment and language of Jersey. There is about 35,000 historical images archived here, some of their photos and information goes back further than 1873, which was the year it was founded. There is an extensive library there where the archive publishes books about the photos for people to get, handy for any historians on the island who want to learn more about the history of Jersey. They are currently celebrating their 150 year anniversary too. Their website and info about them and where they can be found, can be found here.

Photos of our visit to Société Jersiaise:

1. RESEARCH: Elizabeth Castle and decide which particular aspects of its 1000 year history you wish to make into a short film of 3-5 mins – see below. Gather together research material, such as images, maps, documents, links to online sources and write a short synopsis of 300-500 words.

Elizabeth Castle

Built on a rocky islet in St. Aubin’s Bay, Elizabeth Castle (a castle and tourist attraction) has defended Jersey for more than 400 years. Construction of the earliest parts of the castle, the Upper Ward including the Queen Elizabeth Gate, began in 1594. This work was carried out by the Flemish military engineer Paul Ivy. Sir Walter Raleigh Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603, named the castle Elizabeth Castle after Elizabeth I of England. The castle was first used in a military context during the English Civil War in the 17th century.

Plan:

The earliest known structure to be built on the two rocky outcrops on which the Castle was subsequently to be built was the Hermitage of St Helier, thought to have been founded as a monastery and oratory in 1155 but amalgamated with the Abbey of Cherbourg and downgraded to a priory in 1179.

For our film, Caitlin and I decided to base it around the life of St. Helier (Helierus), the man that lived in the hermitage that is now connected to Elizabeth Castle by a breakwater.

We want our film to have quite a dark, creepy and slightly gothic theme, including a narrator talking about the life of the saint and the legends and myths surrounding his story.

We want to focus on both the religious and mythical aspects of the saint, as I think both are important to make an interesting film about him.

WHAT ARE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES?

The archive or archives are a collection of documents and records that contain historical information. You can also use archives to refer to the place where archives are stored. – Collins Dictionary

JERSEY HERITAGE JERSEY ARCHIVE:

The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive (SJPA) contains over 125,000 items dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. It is the Island’s principal collection of nineteenth and early twentieth-century photography and reflects a rich history generated from our geographical and cultural position between Britain and France, two nations that were prominent in developing the medium. 35,000 historical images in the Photographic Archive can we found on their website here.

27/09/2023 AT JERSEY ARCHIEVE:

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE TRIP:

We arrived at Jersey Museum for 8:45am, there we made our way up to the room where we received the talk by ‘The Gatekeepers.’ They gave us information on how to use the Jersey Archive website in order to help us for our short film project. He proceeded to digitally show us how to filter specific instruction in order to receive the best possible results. He was able to give us some information about Elizabeth Castle, where we were supposed to extend our trip, and showed us their archival prints of historical factors around the building.

IMAGES TAKEN:

OVERVIEW OF THE TRIP:

• They told the group of students useful historic facts about the origins on the Jersey Heritage and how it became an archive and a photographic archive known as ‘SJ Photographic Archive‘
• Showed and taught us how to use the Jersey Heritage website and how to filter and modify the filter in order to get to the SJ Photographic archive, furthermore able to find images you need.
• Told us the necessary needs your photographs need to fit in order from them to be publish to the archive eg what historic value do they have to society?
• Showed us printed images from their archive in the building (printed copies of photos that also found digitally online, some are original and not found online)

EXHIBITION – NO PLACE LIKE HOME

The exhibition took place in the Capital House where many project were displayed for, No Place Like Home.

A floating sculpture of the Earth was situated in the Queen’s Valley Reservoir by artist Luke Jerram between 14th and 24th of September and this was a part of the exhibition. This was to spread awareness about climate change and how it is affected the Earth.

QUOTES FROM Mr Jerram:

“I created the artwork to keep this subject on the agenda and also show people what we could lose.”

“Our floating blue planet is just incredibly beautiful and fragile.“

“It will also make people realise what public art can do and it can reach out to people in lots of different ways“

“It was really nice to see the Floating Earth in Jersey with ducks and swans swimming around, which means they weren’t scared of it; which is nice.”

SOURCE: BBC NEWS