Archisle photographer in residence hosts Photo Academy

Monday 10 April 2017

Tanja Deman, one of this year's Archisle photographers in residence will be teaching young photography enthusiasts new camera skills as part of a Photo Academy at St James Centre.

Photographs produced during the five-day workshop will be shown in an exhibition at St James Centre on Friday from 17:00 and all day Saturday.

Tanja Deman, who arrived on the Island earlier this month, will be taking the group of up to 10 students to shoot different locations including Havre des Pas, Grosnez and Elizabeth Castles, Noirmont and others. 

She told Express: "I picked those sites because they show the cultural and geological heritage of the Island. There are some very dramatic landscapes, Plemont Bay is beautiful and the view from Grosnez in gorgeous. They portray the Island in a very picturesque way and I believe each student will react to the sites differently. Some might just create a series of photographs while others might try to reshape it and give a new vision of it through collage."

Tanja's work incorporates different practices including, but not only, photography, collage, video and public art. The images she produces are "evocative meditations on urban space, landscape and human relationships with nature." During the workshop, she will focus on photography and photo collage about built and natural landscapes and environment. 

She explains: "We will be looking at geological formations and beaches but also at forts from the Middle Ages, remains from World War II bunkers, and more contemporary constructions like the harbour. I will try to link each location to classic or contemporary works, or philosophy, anything that could help the students work with the place. I like to take students on field trips like this, they get to experience something and see a place in a different light."

Mornings will be spent out and about on location while afternoons will focus on the editing project. Tanja will help each student on a one-to-one basis to help them develop their ideas and make the best of their cameras or softwares. The participant's shots will be then shown during a blink-and-you-will-miss-it exhibition at St. James Centre. 

Tanja, who is from Croatia, will be spending the next six months in Jersey as part of the Archisle international photographer in residence programme. The programme is receiving two artists for the first time this year, as Jonny Briggs's residence will run concurrently to Tanja's. Both will conduct several workshops with Islanders of all ages before they exhibit a body of work at the CCA Galleries International in September.

As far as Tanja is concerned, it will mainly be landscapes in black and white, underwater but also on the ground around the Island.