It is produced & curated by ArtHouse Jersey and Art for Guernsey, in association with Les Champs Libres in Rennes. The work will be first showcased at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House between 19 January and 25 February 2024 followed by a month-long exhibition at Art for Guernsey in St Peter Port opening on Thursday 7 March 2024. Five artists are from Guernsey, seven from Jersey and seven from other countries around the world, including Germany, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Russia. There will be a special celebratory launch evening on Thursday 18 January between 5.30pm and 7.30pm at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House in St Helier where all are welcome to preview the work and toast the exhibition.
THE EXHIBITION
For the inaugural Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show exhibition opening in Jersey audiences can expect a show that brings to life the curatorial ‘anchor point’ which is the inspiration for the Channel Islands have offered to artists through history, particularly from the late 19th century to mid 20th century, as well as reflecting the more complex social realities of the Islands today. It will also explore how both these realities continue to shape the Channel Islands’ relation to the wider world.
With stunning landscape and portrait photography, exquisite and subtly layered painted works alongside sculptural and video pieces, it will both question and invite the viewer to reflect on themselves and the complex global histories of these Islands. The show promises to be mysterious and experiential for the visitor, with shifting and changing perspectives, much like the Islands themselves when seen from close-up and afar, as visitors walk through the gallery environment.
A SHARED VISION BETWEEN THE ISLANDS
Earlier this year Art for Guernsey and ArtHouse Jersey announced their intention to work together, joining forces to promote the Channel Islands – collaboratively to France and other jurisdictions. The partnership came to fruition following a cultural diplomacy field trip to Rennes in June 2022 where the organisations engaged with galleries and museums, as well as the cultural services of the city, Les Champs Libres, with the view of exploring artistic collaborations aimed at building connections between the respective jurisdictions. Through this process, the two organisations identified a shared vision for how art can make concrete contributions to society, and in particular how it can connect communities, opening new and more positive dialogues across a wide range of topics. The Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show will be the first project of this exchange.
The artists are Leo Boyd (N. Ireland), Charlie Buchanan (Guernsey), Jason Butler (Jersey), Notta Caflisch (Switzerland), Paul Chambers (Guernsey), Connor Daly (Jersey), Emily de Gruchy (Jersey), Sally Ede-Golightly (Guernsey), Eugen Gorean (Moldova), Tim Le Breuilly (Jersey), Yulia Makeyeva (Jersey), Peter Mammes (South Africa/UK), Oleg Mikhailov (Russia), Shan O’Donnell (Jersey), Vesna Parchet (UK), Hugh Rose (Guernsey), Martin Toft (Jersey), Philipp Valenta (Germany) and Aaron Yeadle (Guernsey).
Head of Programme for ArtHouse Jersey, James Tyson, said: “It is an honour to be launching this partnership exhibition that has enabled us to work more closely with our peers in Guernsey and Rennes, and also through this process to have connected the artistic communities of both Islands and with artists internationally. It has provided such a rich opportunity to reflect and see in a new light the particular realities and moments of the Channel Islands in their ever-changing history. We are looking forward to opening our doors in January when audiences will first get to see some of these extraordinary, vibrant and thought-provoking works.”
Founder and Chairman for Art for Guernsey, David Ummels, said: “Our exhibition aims to epitomise a first-class example of a collaboration between our islands and is meant to be a platform for local and international artists inspired by the Channel Islands to shine, and not only inspire islanders but also to positively spread our values and culture abroad.”
People should check back in on arthousejersey.je or artforguernsey.com in the coming months to learn more about the exhibition and related events.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
The 19 artists selected to feature in The Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show are:
Leo Boyd (N. Ireland)
Originally from Hastings, Leo is a screenprinter and painter who likes to depict mundane things with a skewed sci-fi lens. He sees screen printing as a liberating art form, democratising the visual image and encompassing street art, sculpture, collage, photography and painting. Leo’s Channel Island collages combine historical and pictorial research with his own photographic groundwork to create a series of new visions of Guernsey and Jersey.
Charlie Buchanan (Guernsey)
Charlie is an artist and illustrator who has exhibited in both solo and group shows in the UK, Spain and Guernsey. Guernsey is littered with the broken backs of huge greenhouses which are slowly crumbling into the landscape. Charlie uses these monuments to explore the changing relationship the island has to the natural world, both cultivated and wild.
Jason Butler (Jersey)
Jason is an abstract artist who paints in oils. He has been exhibited on three occasions at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and he has been commissioned twice by Jersey’s government to commemorate royal visits. Jason’s work for this show is an attempt to process the life of a painter on a small rock who, when he is in his studio, thinks he could be in New York or London – an abstract painting that places the viewer in the eyes of someone trying to transcend the ‘local’ whilst also acknowledging its debt.
Notta Caflisch (Switzerland)
Notta is an artist with Canadian roots who lives in from the Grisons, Switzerland. Her work addresses global trade, consumerism and how these issues affect our society, the legal system and one’s own identity. Notta’s great-great-great grandfather, John Le Boutillier, was born in Jersey in 1797 and moved to the Gaspé, Canada, where he opened his own codfish trading company. He is still well known in the region, where there is a museum and documents in the Gaspé Archives. Notta’s family history has inspired a unique embroidered piece accompanied by audio footage.
Paul Chambers (Guernsey)
Paul used to work in the field of restorative justice and now uses the wetplate collodion technique, most recently as part of the Renoir in Guernsey, 1883, exhibition which took place in Giverny and Guernsey. Paul is passionate about photographing the people we usually do not see or hear. He has a unique perspective on people’s backgrounds and is skilled at depicting social realities.
Connor Daly (Jersey)
Connor’s work explores varying levels of colour and compositional effects that provoke spatial ambiguity, using a painterly and abstract style that is evocative of nostalgia, memory and the passing of time. Connor has photographed the German WW2 bunkers and military defences across Jersey and Guernsey, as part of a deeper examination of the dire consequences of war, and the scars that these structures have left upon the landscape and our collective consciousness across the islands.
Emily de Gruchy (Jersey)
Emily has had pieces commissioned and performed by the Jersey Sinfonietta and was a finalist for the NCEM Young Composer of the Year with her first choral work, “Ave Regina Caelorum”. Many people, over hundreds of years, sought refuge in the Channel Islands without fear of persecution to practise their faith and, in tandem, their music. Emily’s sound installation takes listeners on a journey through the different forms of sacred and secular bellringing, from the year 1000 to the beginning of the millennium.
Sally Ede-Golightly (Guernsey)
Figurative artist Sally was awarded the Heatherleys Portrait Prize in 2019 and has exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Society of Women Artists. Her work will explore the connection between Guernsey and Hong Kong, where her family lived in the 19th century before moving to Guernsey, two islands of the same geographical size but which chose very different paths. It will exemplify how Channel Islanders created an historical, economic and social footprint across the globe.
Eugen Gorean (Moldova)
Eugen is a watercolourist of global renown with a host of international accolades. His artworks have been exhibited in London, Moscow, Paris, Venice and Shenzhen. He was also invited by the European Parliament in Brussels and by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg to show his art. Eugen was Art for Guernsey’s first artist in residence, and the island has inspired him to produce a piece which reflects upon the relationship between people and the place from which they come.
Tim Le Breuilly (Jersey)
Tim is a multidisciplinary artist based and co-founder of Luddite Press. Tim was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize as well as the BEEP painting biennial. Photography in the form of the Daguerreotype was first demonstrated in Jersey in May 1840, only nine months after the details of the invention had been first revealed in Paris. Tim’s work for this show is inspired by the history of the Channel Islands as a testing ground for new techniques of image making.
Yulia Makeyeva (Jersey)
Yulia grew up in Russia and now lives in Jersey. She explores memory, heritage and time, language, boundaries and borders, drawing inspiration from personal experiences and public and private archives. Yulia’s installation encourages a dialogue about displacement and integration, and is based on her own experience of immigration and the story of a woman who has lived and worked in Jersey for 30 years and still hears xenophobic comments from her clients.
Peter Mammes (South Africa/UK)
Peter travels extensively around the world to find ideas and imagery for his work, collecting patterns that he finds on stone carvings and reliefs on temples, facades and graves. He was commissioned to design a commemorative coin for circulation for the South African mint, released in 2019. Peter challenges preconceived notions surrounding the Channel Islands, from their recent history as tax havens and their stance on the European Union to the cartoonish stereotypes that often pop up in conversations about them.
Oleg Mikhailov (Russia)
Artist and printmaker Oleg is one of the best stone lithographers in the world and his works can be found in most of the major Russian and Chinese museums. His artwork is inspired by Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea and Okusai’s Wave. For Oleg, Victor Hugo and the theme of the ‘rock’s hospitality’ is a great way of building a bridge between the three places.
Shan O’Donnell (Jersey)
Guys and Dolls is a photographic and audio-based project documenting Jersey’s Drag Queens both in and out of drag. Shan aims to elevate and hold space for the queer lived experience on the island, immortalising them through the eventual donation of the work to the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive.
Vesna Parchet (UK)
Vesna’s work revolves around themes such as growth/transformation, conscious/subconscious and real/abstract, fusing imagery from personal experiences with magazine and newspaper cut-outs in order to explore the complexity of the human form and the body as a convoluted entity. Vesna’s painting is inspired by the folklore history and mythical believes that exist on the islands, and explores the traditions that have shaped its people.
Hugh Rose (Guernsey)
Hugh is an illustrator who has worked in a variety of styles and approaches, including graffiti, sculpture and graphic design. Hugh explores the lives of the patron saints of Guernsey and Jersey, focusing on their legendary aspects and the many stories told about them. These digital illustrations offer an opportunity to engage deeply with the cultural DNA of the Channel Islands as well as allowing viewers to explore the significance of these saints in the wider early medieval and Celtic milieu in which they lived.
Martin Toft (Jersey)
Martin was born in Denmark and moved to Jersey in 2004 to teach photography. He combines documentary and fine art to explore social, anthropological and cultural themes, often immersing himself in communities for long periods of time. Through the prism of colonialism and family history, Martin looks at how Jersey’s original wealth generated by the proceeds from the North Atlantic fisheries and maritime trade lay the foundation for the island’s future prosperity.
Philipp Valenta (Germany)
Philipp is a visual artist currently based in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. He reflects upon definitions and the generation of values conceptually in different media, with emphasis on drawing, video, performance and installation. Philipp’s works have been exhibited in numerous shows, including in the Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. His work for this show is based on two significant industries in the Channel Islands – fishing and finance – combining them in an experimental video installation.
Aaron Yeandle (Guernsey)
Aaron is an award-winning photographer who has exhibited nationally and internationally with solo and group exhibitions. His photographs observe and reflect on communities and places that are often glimpsed but rarely pondered upon. Aaron’s work for this show delves into the complicated relationship between memory and landscape; the Channel Islands tell their unique and troubled history through their landscape and folklore.
