Students from Elizabeth College are marking the 160th anniversary of Victor Hugo’s novel ‘The Toilers of the Sea’ with a new exhibition celebrating the author’s lasting connection to Guernsey.
The exhibition, After Hugo, opened at the Gate House Gallery on Friday 6 March and features ceramics, illustrations and collages created by students inspired by Hugo’s famous maritime novel.
On Thursday 19 March, the Victor Hugo Centre will also host a free poetry evening ahead of World Poetry Day, with local students and other readers reciting poetry inspired by the sea, Guernsey and Hugo’s legacy.
Victor Hugo wrote and published The Toilers of the Sea while living in Guernsey during his exile, dedicating the novel to the island and its people. Now, 160 years later, the work continues to inspire a new generation of artists and writers – a legacy that will be championed by the future Victor Hugo Centre.
Charlie Buchanan, Art Teacher at Elizabeth College, said: ‘Our Victor Hugo project has been running for a couple of years now. It’s a chance for the students to get to know Victor Hugo not just as a writer but also as a visual artist. Hugo was a polymath who excelled in so many areas, not least the visual arts. He was an early adopter of abstraction, and his atmospheric ink work has proved a wonderful starting point for our students to create their own illustrative work inspired by his epic The Toilers of the Sea.
‘Students created their own photographic work and worked with a range of sources to produce images inspired by Hugo’s great maritime novel. Three teachers taught their own versions of the project so there is a beautiful range of work on display including 3D illustrative work in ceramics.’
Year 10 student Sophia Kemp’s watercolour painting, featured on the exhibition’s programme, focuses on the octopus that Gilliatt faces in Hugo’s novel.
‘I think it’s really important to value old artists because they have lots of history and context behind their work so we can learn a lot,’ Sophia said.
‘I particularly liked how Hugo described the octopus as a devil fish and a monster, which you can really see through other pieces that the class has produced.’
The free poetry evening is open for all to attend and will take place in the Hayward Room at the Guille-Alles Library. The evening will feature literature in French, English and Guernesiais.
‘Guernsey was Hugo’s rock of hospitality and freedom, a place he dedicated The Toilers of the Sea to which has immortalised the island’s identity,’ said Larry Malcic, chair of the Victor Hugo Centre.
‘Just as Guernsey inspired Hugo with his work, so we look to Hugo to inspire us, and this thread runs through the vision for the Victor Hugo Centre. Once opened, the Centre will reflect how Hugo’s literature and legacy continue to inspire art in the current day by putting focus on local artists and poets to celebrate their work, such as the pieces seen in Elizabeth College’s exhibition and at our upcoming poetry evening.’
You can register for the Poetry Evening on Eventbrite here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poetry-evening-tickets-1979716919599?aff=ebdssbdestsearch