The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive was founded in 1873 (Société Jersiaise, n.d.) and acts as a service to supply knowledge and artefacts to the Jersey community about Jersey heritage. The archives are of great importance to our understanding of the past, which, in turn, allows us to better frame our view of both the present and the future. Comprised of drawings, documents, paintings, photographs and records, the archives allow us to reach back in time and attribute meaning to our heritage. The images found in the Photographic Archive focus on many areas – there is documentation of wildlife found on our island, the islanders themselves, the geography of the island itself, and of key events that have taken place here. The Société’s mission is to ‘produce and facilitate research on the Island’s history, culture, language and environment; and to share that knowledge with the widest possible audience for the benefit of our island community.’ (Société Jersiaise, n.d.). This attitude of inclusivity is well evidenced in the ways that the Société interacts extensively with the local community; they take part in community outreach schemes, research collections, and their numerous relationships with local partners. The impact of the archive’s extensive work to preserve our past is seen throughout the island’s art scene, as the relationship between art and history grows stronger. The Archisle Contemporary Photography Programme, hosted by the Société Jersiaise, has commissioned artists such as Tom Pope, Martin Parr, and Michelle Sank, to name a few, to create work about Jersey since its inception in 2001 (Archisle, n.d.). Hence, through the careful cultivation and conservation of artefacts donated to the Société, the members can truly contribute the value of heritage to the community. The archives allow us to physically contextualise our history, and to contextualise is to gain knowledge. Knowledge strengthens our ability to understand the world around us and therefore become more conscious.

Photographer Ernest Badoux is an important contributor to the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and its material. Born in 1828, Badoux worked in Jersey from 1869 from a studio at 11 Craig Street and 51½, 56 and 59 New Street (Jerripedia, 2022). Of his work, 1350 images are available to view online at the Jersey Heritage website and the majority of these are portraits. The sheer volume of these portraits, as well as the fashions worn within them, indicates to us that there was a vast culture of wealth on the island, as only the particularly rich could afford to get their picture taken at the time. Portraits were the artist’s speciality, but he also photographed landscapes, did commissions on clients’ houses, and documented major events of the era. His images of various Jersey scenes are valuable in their representations of how the island once looked, and they help us to understand where things have changed – whether for the better or for the worse. Therefore, the variety of imagery supplied by Badoux to the Jersey Archives gives us a decidedly rich visual resource in a view of Victorian Jersey life and acts as a key example of how the archives can function as repositories of knowledge and experience.

I have chosen to analyse Badoux’s image of ‘view looking across St.Aubin railway station and harbour at low tide, topsail schooner berthed in harbour, The Bulwarks (Le Boulevard) and Noirmont in background.’ (Jersey Heritage, n.d.) taken between 1870 and 1873. I have chosen this image because it shows a part of the railway which no longer exists in Jersey, which demonstrates my point that Badoux’s work can be used to explore the changes in island life and geography. One would be inclined to assume that this image was produced with the chromotyping (or carbon printing) process, as this is how much of his surviving work was produced. Chromotyping is defined by the Collins Dictionary as ‘a procedure in photography that uses photographic paper that is made reactive to light by the use of a salt of chromium’ (Collins Dictionary, n.d.) and this was a rather difficult and laborious process, which made the carbon prints ‘about twice as expensive as platinum and up to five times more costly than silver’ (Jerripedia, 2022). Furthermore, the images are printed with pigments instead of dyes, which makes them last longer than those made by any other process. The image uses natural lighting and appears overexposed in the top left but is balanced elsewhere. The mise-en-scene presents a view of St Aubin from a vantage point, with the railway station as a focal point in the centre of the image. It appears to have been taken with not much thought or intention given to the artistic elements but rather more as a documentary image, which is implied by the composition being regular and deadpan. The piers and railway tracks create sweeping lines through the image, drawing the eye away from the rather wasted space of the grass in the foreground. Overall, this image is important to the question of how archives function as repositories of knowledge because it can be compared to a more recent one to analyse the differences between Victorian and modern Jersey.

In conclusion, the value of photographic archives to someone interested in studying the social, archaeological, or ecological history of a specific area is substantial, and this is clear in the nature of the photographs stored by the Société. They cover a wide range of studies, and their usefulness has been demonstrated throughout the years. Images from the past allow us to learn more about who we are and where we come from, which links smoothly to the action of artistic inspiration. To an artist, archives are valuable because they serve as a valuable tool to aid self-exploration, demonstrated by the work of many photographers and artists who use archival material in their work. Having studied the work and life of Ernest Badoux, I have learned that the archival material I used to do this was essential to my study. It allowed me to view a wide range of his work to a fairly good standard and to learn the methods he used to produce it, and this therefore illuminates that the archives are a key factor in the way we view our island and its history. They are important to both those who were Jersey-born and those who moved here later in life, which illustrates that they build a tapestry of how our island once worked – which we as islanders can use to navigate our way through its future.

Bibliography

Archisle, n.d. Archisle: About us. [Online]
Available at: https://www.archisle.org.je/about-archisle/
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Collins Dictionary, n.d. Chromotype definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. [Online]
Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/chromotype
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Jerripedia, 2022. Ernest Badoux – Jerripedia. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Ernest_Baudoux
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Jersey Heritage, n.d. Collection Search | Jersey Heritage. [Online]
Available at: https://catalogue.jerseyheritage.org/collection-search/?si_elastic_detail=archive_110472499
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Mason, D., 2023. ARA Excellence Awards 2023 – Archives and Records Association. [Online]
Available at: https://www.archives.org.uk/news/ara-excellence-awards-2023#:~:text=In%202023%20over%201%2C000%20votes,at%20Lothian%20Health%20Services%20Archive
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Société Jersiaise, n.d. History, Mission & Governance. [Online]
Available at: https://www.societe.je/history-mission/
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

Société Jersiaise, n.d. Société Jersiaise: About. [Online]
Available at: Société Jersiaise
[Accessed 2 October 2023].

The Art house Jersey are currently holding an art exhibition called ‘no place like home’. There are a few different parts to this exhibition with the gallery at capital house, the dissent module that was placed at Les Platons, and the floating earth that was at Queens valley reservoir.

‘No place like home’ is currently being held at the art gallery with a wide range of art work from many different artists locally and internationally. The whole exhibition is aimed to get people thinking about what home means to them in terms of personally as well as nationally and even globally. We live in a time where housing is currently in crisis with the cost of them as well as the cost of living meaning home isn’t always a happy place for people. It is also aimed to get people to think about the condition of our planet and its health, this is also a very serious topic which many people don’t consider. The gallery has showcased pieces from small canvases to big sculptures and area set ups, this allows for members of the public to walk around analysing the pieces and even interact with some of them.

The creators of ‘No Place like Home’, Rosalind Davis and Laura Hudson said:

“We wanted to create an exhibition where everyone can feel at home. A key aim of ArtHouse Jersey is to make the arts accessible to the wider community, which was why we were drawn to a subject matter that will mean something to everyone. Home is of course a loaded term, and its connotations will be different for all of us. For many it will be a sanctuary, but for some it may have less positive associations. No Place Like Home builds a rich narrative and delves into personal stories, global issues, childhood memories, and speculative worlds as well as the bleak realities of the current housing market. The artists do not shy away from difficult issues, but rather tackle them with inventiveness, pathos, humour and a generosity of spirit. Alongside the gallery works, three installations will be announced in the coming weeks which will take their place in surprising settings around the Island.”

The dissent module was made by the artist Rachel Ara to show her concerns of the idea of home and the assumption that it is always a safe place to be as for some people it isn’t, and if fact it one of the most dangerous place where a high percentage of crime is committed. Ara has designed the interior module to be like a womb to replicate a safe place for someone to be, with the module being a metaphor for returning home safely.

The floating earth, that drew a large amount of the publics attention, was created be the artist Luke Jerram. It was also part of Art House Jersey’s exhibition ‘No Place like Home’ and was also partnered with Jersey water. It was aimed to show people how we all think of home as different places but they are all in the universe/world. The event was already set up previous to it’s arrival in Jersey and after many discussions with Art House Jersey, Jersey Water and Luke Jerram’s team it was able to be places in the reservoir for 12 days where it attracted over 31,000 members of the public. This was a great opportunity for Jersey to experience more exhibitions which as a result beings the community together. Many photographers and regular members of the public shared their images and videos online which only attracted more and more people as well as schools and charity groups. The floating earth was aimed to create the effect of someone in space looking back at the earth with that nostalgic feeling being present.

‘Expertly curated, No Place Like Home features the work of local and internationally acclaimed artists and invites Islanders to consider their ‘home’ on a personal, national, global and even cosmic scale. The exhibition features 23 gallery based artworks and three external installation pieces, all of which explore ‘home’ from different perspectives, including considerations around Jersey’s housing crisis and international perspectives on the health of our planet. Whilst we live in a time when this can be a complex and serious subject, the pieces on display are often playful and interactive and invite the viewer to reflect on their own interpretation and experience.’

I think this was a very interesting exhibition, consisting of visual and interactive components that created a experience of nostalgia. There was aspects of a more general idea of our home (like the earth) as well as more domestic factors. The ranges of mediums (painting, sculpture and others) made the exhibition very detailed and abstract.

Curated by Rosalind Davis and Laura Hudson, No Place Like Home brings both existing and newly commissioned works by artists including Rachel Ara, George Bolster, Sasha Bowles, Justin Hibbs, Ana Cvorovic, Peter Liversidge, Lindsay Rutter, Will Romeril and Lisa Traxler.

The Exhibition

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.

During the trip, the class listened to a presentation from two people in the industry about how the archives are stored and sorted. We learnt that they take archival donations of photographic materials, causing their collection to rapidly grow each day.

Due to the Elizabeth Castle project, I photographed this old map of Elizabeth Castle.

I also found this drawing of St. Helier’s hermitage, before the breakwater connecting it to the castle was built.

These pictures of Elizabeth Castle and Gorey Castle were also quite interesting, showing what the castles looked like in the past.

SJ Photographic Archive

On their website (above) it is mentioned how ‘we hold over 15,000 portraits of named individuals, together with views of every bay, valley and vista across the Island. Our collection offers a detailed visual record of Jersey and Channel Islands history and is an excellent representation of technical and aesthetic developments throughout the photographic era.’

We visited the Société Jersiaise archives to have a look at what archival materials they had of Elizabeth Castle.

The Société Jersiaise photographic archives mission is to produce and facilitate research on the Island’s history. They achieve this by working with local and international heritage partners. The Société holds extensive bibliographic, cartographic, photographic and research collections. These collections show us our heritage and are valued by the Jersey community.

We also visited Capital House to see an exhibition called no place like home which displayed a range of artists work.

No Place Like Home exhibition

We also, visited the exhibition at Capital House called ‘No Place Like Home’ which had a range of work by various artists from all over the world on what they viewed as ‘home.’

One artists work that I was drawn to was Harriet Mena Hill Aylesbury Estate Fragments. It was made up of pieces of concrete that are from the demolished housing estate Aylesbury in South East London. She was moved by the residents stories and wanted to document them.

Chris Marker was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director multi media artist. Marker is most known for his film La Jetée, a French science fiction short film. La Jetée tells the story of the post-nuclear war experiment in time travel.

La Jetée isn’t like a stereotypical film, it consists entirely of still black and white images, the addition of sound, music and voice overs gives the film a cinematic feel. The cleaver and though out use of the still images and sounds makes the film interesting and helps the viewers connect with the storyline.

The storyline is about a man who travels in and out of time in an experiment to try and discover the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a past events that are recreated on an airport viewing pier.

The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive was founded in January 1873 by a small number of Islanders who were interested in the history of Jersey. Included in this was a museum and a library. Their first Bulletin Annuel was issued in 1875 and continues to be the main record of our activities.

A photographic archive is a collection of photographs, often with accompanying materials in other formats, in the course of daily life, individuals and organizations create and keep information about their personal and business activities. These records, and the places they are kept, are called “archives.”Archives have been used throughout human history and they have been very helpful among historians who are studying a specific era in human history.These days, while archives still remain in use, digital archives are now very well used and are much easier and quicker to access, digital ones contain images, documents and many more things that you wouldn’t be allowed to even touch in a physical archive. Although technology is more popular nowadays, physical archives are still the most useful as they have been used for many centuries, as one of Man’s most reliable resources for information.

The Société Jersiaise focuses on Jersey history and has everything about it ranging from what the Island looked like hundreds of years ago to peoples’ registration cards during the Occupation. They achieve this through their active Sections, research collections, community outreach and collaboration with local and international heritage partners, The Société’s Sections specialise in various fields of study, from archaeology to zoology.

Ernest Baudoux, one of the photographers on the Societe Archive produced a panorama of St Helier, soon after his arrival to Jersey. The process he used to create the image is particularly interesting, the process he used required considerable skill. Producing “wet collodion” images on location required a mobile (often horse drawn) darkroom in which plates could be coated and sensitised, exposed while still wet, and developed immediately. The panorama shows the architecture of St Helier in tremendous detail. Numerous of Baudoux studio portraits were produced with a sliding plate mechanism designed to give two exposures on one glass negative.Later following by choosing the best images he often removed the ‘reject’ by marking it with a cross. Having selected his preferred image, Baudoux retouched the negative to enhance the complexion of the subject and conceal facial blemishes. This effect shows that the practice of photographic manipulation originated long before the digital age.

Chris Marker, (1921-2012) was a French filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor and multi-media artist 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. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel. What makes the film interesting for the purposes of this discussion, is that while in editing terms it uses the language of cinema to construct its narrative effect, it is composed entirely of still images showing images from the featureless dark of the underground caverns of future Paris, to the intensely detailed views across the ruined city, and the juxtaposition of destroyed buildings with the spire of the Eiffel Tower. 

What is the story behind La Jetee?

La Jetee is about a man that is sent back and forth, in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a never ending memories of past events which are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier. What makes the film interesting for the purposes of this discussion, is that while in editing terms it uses the language of cinema to construct its narrative effect, it is composed entirely of still images showing images from the featureless dark of the underground caverns of future Paris, to the intensely detailed views across the ruined city, and the juxtaposition of destroyed buildings with the spire of the Eiffel Tower.

who is Chris Marker:

Chris Marker was a French filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor and multi-media artist who has been challenging many different things including philosophers and himself, questioning time, memories and how quickly life changes. Chris Marker is best known for his film Le Jetée.

what is Le Jetée:

La Jetée is a French science fiction and was directed by Chris Marker in 1962 and was made to tell the story or a post nuclear war as well as the after math of the country and all of the damage that it caused. The film is 28 minutes long and is made of mostly still images in black and white with text as well creating a montage.

about the archives/ our trip:

Established in 1873, Société Jersiaise is a group of islanders who set up the Jersey charity with a common passion for the islands history. The group began to grow and they started to share their interests and finds with the public, making Jersey’s history more known. Their aims were also the founding of the museum and the study of Jersey’s history as well as sharing their knowledge. 9 pier road became their permanent home in 1893 which is now looked after by Jersey Heritage along with their archives. They aim to protect Jersey’s historical aspects by buying archaeological sites in order to be able to preserve them and allow the public to visit them. The photography archive is one of their most important ones, with specific employees looking after them.

As part of out Elizabeth Castle film project we visited the Société Jersiaise photography archives in the Jersey Museum and had a talk from Patrick who is the head archivist there. He explained to us about the castle and showed us some of the images and drawing that they hold of the castle which we looked at. He also explained/showed us how to use their website which allows us to look at the archives later on in our project if we need them.

pictures from the archives: