In 2019 I began a new project Becque á Barbe / Face to Face with the aim of making 100 portraits of Jersey's native speakers. Since then a certain pandemic intervened and almost 2 years on I'm pleased again to be spending time with some of the most endearing islanders who grew up speaking Jèrriais – Jersey’s native language of Norman French.
On a linguistic level the project is exploring the space between the formal, etymological and vernacular use of Jèrriais. Each portrait is titled with a Jèrriais word that each native speaker has chosen to represent a personal or symbolic meaning, or a specific memory linked to his or her childhood. Some portraits are darker in tonality to reflect the language hidden past at a time when English was adopted as the formal speech in Jersey and Jèrriais was suppressed publicly and forbidden to be spoken in schools.
In an island made of granite most names are forms of the Celtic, Norse and Latin words for rock. Most Jersey place names are also using proper French rather than Jèrriais, although there are variants of place names that native speakers would have used in a local context. Juxtaposed with portraits of Jèrriais speakers are a series of photographs of Jersey rocks that are all designated as Sites of Special Interest (SSIs); important geological outcrops that are protected from development and preserved for future public enjoyment and research purposes. The native speakers of Jersey French should be classified as People of Special Interest (PSIs) and equally be protected from extinction through encouraging greater visibility and recognition as guardians of a unique language that are essential in understanding the island’s special character.
A selection of images were initially exhibited at CCA Galleries International, St Helier (23 May - 12 June 2019) as a way to encourage native speakers to come forward and to support the project's aim to publish a photobook. A review was featured in Islands of the Mind - an online archipelago of real and imagined islands curated by Belgian photographer Sylvie De Weze.
https://islandsofthemind.tumblr.com/.../becque-%C3%A0...
If you know a native speaker, or are from a Jersey family where Jèrriais was spoken please DM me. On Wednesday I will be in the parish of St Martin together with my dear friend and Jèrriais teacher Joan Tapley.
All portraits will be deposited at Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive for future research and public enjoyment.
