Jersey Museum invites visitors to become storymakers

Sunday 09 July 2017

Jersey Museum is inviting visitors to become 'Storymakers', with a new community exhibition which celebrates people's passion for the past and the many different ways in which they engage with the island's heritage.

From writing pilgrims' postcards and letters to the future, to creating memory jars and leaving a favourite object in a 'Mini museum', the exhibition enables visitors to take an active part and add something to the display.

The exhibition, located in the entrance of the museum, right by the Tourist Information Centre, is divided into various spaces which each celebrate different aspects of Jersey's Heritage, from the annual pilgrimage to the Hermitage, to re-enactments of the Battle of Jersey, granite arches and Islanders' personal memories bottled up in jars. It mixes pieces from the museum collection with personal stories and experiences, while still giving visitors the opportunity to add to it.

Pictured: A young visitor typing his letter to the future.

Lucy Layton, outreach curator at Jersey Heritage, explained: "The whole idea was to involve lots of people in creating the exhibition and then give the chance to visitors to do things and add things to the displays.

"It is a free exhibition that gives a little taste of some of our sites and some of the things we do. We hope it will inspire other people to go see other sites as well."

The most intriguing corner in the exhibition is an orange wall dotted with glass jars, that may not look like much but actually contain Islanders' memories. Some of the 'Memory Jars' were created with the help of artist Jools Holt as part of community workshops on the Island. Others were created by visitors who came through the exhibition since it opened in late May.

Pictured: Visitors can create their own memory jar at the museum and leave it on display.

Mrs Layton explains: "The starting point was a miniature portrait of Mrs Fiott, who lived around Royal Square, heard noise and went to the window to see what was happening. She got caught in the shoulder by a stray musket ball which she kept on a ribbon her whole life. The idea of the keepsake turned into a 'Memory Jar Project,' so we have a space where visitors can create their own jar. We just received funding from the Jersey Community Partnership Scheme so we will be running 10 more community and add more jars to the display before December." 

Next to the Memory Jars' shelf, which is quickly filling up, visitors will see a series of pictures re-enacting John Singleton Copley's painting 'The death of Major Peirson.' Every year on 6 January, Jersey Heritage goes to the Royal Square and invites members of the public to take place in the re-enactment. The outreach curator explains: "Anyone with a big umbrella turn into a soldier with a musket. It is a nice and fun way to get the community involved and this year we captured a time-lapse video that shows how the picture was taken."

Pictured: A re-enactment of the Battle of Jersey set up by Jersey Heritage on the Royal Square. (Tom Kennedy Photography)

The 'Storymakers' exhibition also explores another way Islanders celebrate Jersey's heritage with the annual pilgrimage to the Hermitage. Mrs Layton and her colleague accompanied pilgrims last year, bringing back interviews and photographs which are on show in the exhibition. Mrs Layton explains: "It was a real mix, there were some people who just wanted to keep the tradition alive and there were others who live in the Parish and just wanted to find out more about Saint Hélier and the Parish history."

Pictured: Pilgrim's postcards written by visitors and left on display. 

Opposite to the wall of photographs is displayed a map of the world which visitors are asked to cover with postcards mentioning the places they have been. A little desk set up next to the map, invites visitors to write their Pilgrim's postcards on site. Mrs Layton explains: "In order to get people involved, we took the idea of pilgrimages as not just being a religious journey. A pilgrimage can be any sort of special journey to go and see something or someone that is important. We are inviting people to write postcards and share their stories about places they have been. Hopefully we will get more and more as the exhibition goes on."