Through the Partnerschaft (twinning) committee, this work continues today, striving to prevent future atrocities and foster a society that values international human rights through its programme of cultural and student exchange.
In the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where the possibility for life in the past, present and future is being foreclosed, the importance of such work cannot be understated. It is vital that our remembrance of the occupation is not hermetically sealed; enabling us, at a time where we celebrate our liberation, to stand in solidarity with those who remain oppressed and under threat. The urgency of such action is clear to see: mainstream politicians in Jersey, the UK and Germany continue to justify, or simply ignore, Israel's systematic dismantling of Palestine. That is, whilst simultaneously marginalising those attempting to speak out. Artists and cultural workers, of course, have been targeted by such efforts, further underlining the necessity for this exhibition to stand in solidarity with those fighting for liberation post-1945.
Incorporating art made in response to archived material, this exhibition is far from a stagnant reflection of the Jersey Archives; on the contrary, the sculptures, photographs, soundscapes, interviews and installations shown here produce a site of contestation, stretching and activating the archive through practices of creation and imagination. In so doing, they destabilise the established structures and memories of the occupation and its legacy - opening new pathways of understanding and solidarity on both the local and global scale.
Composed of both visual and oral histories, The Canary Still Sings in Her Cage centres seven British nationals who, during infancy, were deported and interred at camps in Biberach and Page 3
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Wurzach from 1942-1945. O’Donnell captures the now elderly survivors in their homes, exhibiting their portraits within a 1940s style living room, alongside archival photographs of the subjects’ younger selves, their families, and fellow exinternees. A wartime radio, placed within reach of the armchair provided, creates intimate conditions for listening to the interviews conducted by the artist.
The Canary Still Sings in her Cage activates practises of listening, receptivity, and silent accounting, as O’Donnell’s questions allow each participant to elaborate and reflect on their story. They do so cautiously, selectively – and, most notably, with information that has been passed down by family or circulated between one another. The repetitions, ellipses and rhymes between them accumulate across the sequence of interviews, becoming formal signs: of return, of shared space, and of (re)telling. In bearing witness to their stories, one is struck by the simultaneous presence and absence of those who feature. Here, then, the canary not only sings, but is clearly heard.
Away from the visual arts, Emily de Gruchy has produced a soundscape entitled Two Places: One Time. The title refers to the work's mode of address, as well as its subject of interest. By merging an array of field recordings from Jersey and referencing Bad Wurzach, de Gruchy creates a meeting point between the two places: a sonic third space, of sorts, that listeners are dropped into. The ambient sounds we hear are blended seamlessly, their source practically impossible to discern. Stripped of any spatial-temporal specificity, the soundscape is defined by its liminality: it is neither here nor there, both in the past and the present. Standing at approximately thirty minutes, traversing this (in)distinct spacetime foregrounds the ongoing entanglement between these two places, complicating the notion of contemporary
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dislocation. History isn’t dialectical, de Gruchy seems to suggest, it cannot be removed. Conversely, history's continued presence will be wraithlike in its invisible yet bruising impact - a concept underlined by the immateriality of the sonic form.
Oliver Le Gresley’s installation, For a Time, is a reflection on the cultural life that existed for British prisoners at Wurzach. In comparison to other persecuted groups, the British prisoners detained here were contextually privileged, and one way of evidencing this fact is through the cultural and artistic provisions they were provided. In her chapter on theatre, music and other hobbies at the Wurzach Schloss, Rothenhäusler outlines some of the resources provided by the organisations like the Red Cross and the YMCA, which included: ‘a projector to screen “approved” British films, and also a gramophone and some records [...] And, even better, they donated a number of musical instruments which, together with the existing Schloss piano, helped to form the camp orchestra.’
Grounded in practises of performance, the artforms represented in Le Gresley’s installation are more than pastimes: they are worlds. What is at stake in this piece is the task of (re)animating these worlds, of demonstrating how, in the context of detainment, they became modes of resistance, spaces for imagining otherwise. Informed by this dichotomy of physical confinement and creative freedom, Le Gresley installs a performance space at the heart of this piece, alongside a theatre structure. Black and white footage is projected throughout, oscillating between a choreographed dance routine and a sunlit treeline. These elements combine to produce an atmosphere of unreality that runs across the piece. More than this, however, they also serve oppositional functions.
The footage of the treeline holds a profound melancholy. Its
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hazy, distorted quality indicating a fracture, a sense of dislocation from the outside world. In viewing these images, we are confronted by the confinement enforced on those held at Wurzach. Placed alongside such images, the elements of performance in this piece stand in stark contrast; their verve, dynamism and outwardness highlighting how, in the context of detainment, performance enacted a momentary subversion of the mechanics of imprisonment. In staging these oppositional forces, then, For a Time demonstrates what artistic production and performance enabled at Wurzach: to rehearse resistance, to rehearse escape and to rehearse freedom.
Nicole Sheppard’s sculpture, Translations at the Angle of Reflection, is exhibited here alongside an interview she recorded with Angela Francey, the ex-chair and founder of the twinning committee. Throughout the interview, Francey, an influential figure in the reconciliation between Jersey and Bad Wurzach, underlines the important role communication played in this work. Communication, that is, across different histories, cultures and languages. Taking this as her visual motif, Sheppard has produced a trio of sculptures centered around communicative and audio technologies. Two of the sculptures feature conical horns, with the third equipped with a pulp speaker. All three sculptures are exhibited alongside a plethora of archival material, documenting the events before, during and after the twinning of Jersey and Bad Wurzach.
Constructed from various found objects, these sculptures (materially) replicate the ethos of the twinning committee: to unify that which was once fractured, and turn it into something altogether new. Ostensibly a work of visual art, Translations at the Angle of Reflection is equally concerned with what is heard, as it is with what is seen. The visual components of this work stand to amplify and engender new ways of hearing and seeing the post-war history of Jersey and Bad Wurzach - namely, by
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tracing the cross-cultural communication and exchange that cultivated this relationship. In so doing, this project endeavours to further activate the archive, an exemplification of this exhibition's attempts to expand and invite further attention towards practices of history-making and (re)telling.
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Artist Interviews
The following interviews were conducted by email in the preparation of Structures and Memory (a place called Wurzach) in spring 2025.
Shan O’Donnell Interview
Daniel Heaven: This project centers the personal experiences and family archives of those who survived an often overlooked component of the German occupation of the Channel Islands. Why was it important for you to make these direct accounts the focus of your work, and what have the responses been from those you invited to contribute?
Shan O’Donnell: The focus of this project really started because of my lack of knowledge around this part of our local history. I had never come across the topic in my 27 years living in Jersey and can’t say I remember learning about it in school either. I had discussions with friends who grew up here too who had the same limited knowledge as me. I used this project as a tool for my own learning, to hear first-hand accounts of those who have experienced displacement felt important and necessary in forming my own understanding of it.
I feel really honoured to have been given the opportunity to learn from some of the ex-internees and get to know them personally. They are such wonderful people and have been so generous with sharing their stories and time with me. The responses from Lola, Ursula, Francelise, Sandra, David, Roy and Tony have been wonderful. They have each expressed their gratitude in their stories being shared and we’ve really connected in our mutual want for this part of our local history
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to be more widely known. I hope I make them proud.
DH: In viewing this work, I felt that I was bearing witness to the stories told by the participants. Can you elaborate on your formal decision making for this project? Namely, what informed your approach to conducting the interviews and shooting the portraits of the participants, and what led you to utilise the mock-1940s living room that structures the exhibition of this work?
SO’D: My creative practice often involves archival materials, audio of some description and of course, photographs. This helps me to build a narrative and bring the audience into the story, to immerse them. Using a Bronica ETRS medium format camera, I photographed the participants in their homes and their gardens. I chose these spaces as symbols of freedom and comfort.
The questions I asked were purposefully vague so they could be asked to anyone who has experienced or who is experiencing displacement. I was particularly thinking about the impacts of displacement and war with my own personal point of access to the topic being a witness, through social media and news updates, to Palestinians currently facing the hardship of displacement.
The more I worked on this project, the more obvious it felt for me to ask the participants for personal archival photographs of themselves and their parents from just before or just after the war, as of course they wouldn’t have had any from during. I wanted these images to be a reminder to audiences of just how young those I interviewed were at the time of their displacement but also how young their parents were and to invite audiences to think about just how life-altering and scary it would have been for these young families to walk into the unknown.
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The mock-1940s living room scene was a way for me to connect the audience with the participants. At first, the project was just going to be the portraits I took of the ex-internees on a white wall with headphones next to them, much like a previous work I exhibited, Guys and Dolls. The more I thought about it the less this made sense for what we were creating. I’ve seen many artists create mock scenes like this one and was particularly inspired by an exhibition I had seen some years back now by photographer Sebastian Bruno. The living room scene acts as a gateway to immerse the audience. They can sit in the armchair and listen to the ex-internees talk about their experiences as if listening through a radio transmitter/receiver from the time. The archival images and the contemporary portraits are mixed together in a sort of gallery wall that feels like home. I wanted this mock scene to be a comfort and maybe a symbol of hope for happy returns.
DH: I am pleased to hear that this project will be deposited at Jersey Archive soon after this exhibition. How would one go about visiting the archive, should they wish to explore this history further, and what sort of materials can they expect to find there? Additionally, how might the inclusion of the oral histories from this project stand to expand their current World War II collection?
SO’D: The first thing to do before visiting the Archive would be to do some research on their online catalogue (www. catalogue.jerseyheritage.org). Here you can do simple searches with keywords like ‘Wurzach’ and a whole bunch of catalogued materials will show up for you to scroll through. I’d say have a good look through these and write down any references that you might be interested in seeing in person (e.g. L/C/01/B/A/4 - watercolour painting of the main entrance to Schloss in the centre of Wurzach). Once you’ve got your references together, email or call the Archive to make an
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appointment and give them the references ahead of time so they can have these ready for you to view when you arrive (I think at least 24hrs notice is best). If you don’t have internet access or struggle to do this on your own, you can always give the Archive a call and a staff member will help point you in the right direction.
There are many materials at the Archive to view! From the time, you will mainly find paintings done by internees that help illustrate the environment of the internment camp. Some textile materials are in the museum collection including brooches, embroidery, hand woven bags. There are, of course, plenty of letters to and from ex-internees. I haven’t uncovered everything myself! Notably, the Green family have donated much of their own personal archive from the time. Ursula Green was a small child when she was taken with the rest of her family to Wurzach and I was able to discuss this with her in our interview for this project.
I’m hoping our interviews will be a useful research tool for those interested in learning more about the topic and give researchers a better understanding of displacement from a child's perspective. For the exhibition, I have only selected parts of each interview to feature so the Archive will have the full hour long interviews. For me, hearing the first-hand accounts of some of the ex-internees helps bring their stories into the present. I feel much more connected to their stories and feel the humanity coming through with the pauses, the signs, the laughs, you really get to connect with them. It can be so easy to almost lose the humanity of a story about war because it is something, fortunately, many of us cannot relate to. This is why I think the audio interviews are so valuable and necessary in bringing humanity and personal understanding of what it was like to experience displacement in this way.
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visually dominated, and I didn’t want to impede the messages that they’re trying to convey through their mediums - I respect Nicole, Shan and Ollie’s work very much!
My Jersey samples are recorded at some of my favourite places in Jersey, including the Railway Walk, Belcroute Bay, and the Rivoli Clock Tower in town. My samples designated to Wurzach are found sounds associated with small German spa towns like Wurzach - I was not able to visit in person due to circumstances beyond my control, but I am hoping to visit in the future. When it comes to technical work, automation is a sonic artist’s best friend. I am also very lucky to work with an incredible sound engineer who smooths out any edges that my work may have - a good piece of advice I’d give to any budding composer working with electronic mediums is to build a friendship with a sound engineer!
DH: In addition to this soundscape, you have also produced a piece of concert music, entitled Four Seasons of Displacement, which is due to be performed alongside this exhibition. In what ways does this work differ, if at all, from Two Places: One Time, and when and where is it programmed to premier?
EdG: Four Seasons of Displacement is a piece for symphony orchestra, and the title plays on Antonio Vivaldi’s famous ‘Four Seasons’ Violin concertos and abstractly maps the passage of time for prisoners of war within the Wurzach Schloss. It differs from Two Places: One Time as it is deliberately centred on the past, not the present. It’s a historically informed musical narrative.
The music itself is inspired by three accounts from a variety of ages during the war: Jean Ethel Mary Tipping (age at deportation: nineteen); Gerald Robert King (age at deportation: seven); and Michael Shepherd (age at deportation: fourteen).
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My sources/inspirations consist of diary entries at the time of imprisonment compiled alongside historical context (Tipping, Shepherd), and memories reported from an older age and looking back (King). Very helpfully, the majority of these publications contain pictures and drawings, which makes my job as a composer much easier as it makes the experiences all the more visceral. I have spent a great deal of time weaving these people’s words into the music, literally, and have done my best to bring their experiences to life. It was a life-altering thing to read about the experience of these four individuals, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for all the internees. To quote Michael Shepherd: “Freedom, a word often used but always taken for granted. It is not until someone says that you cannot do this or you cannot do that, that makes one realise what life is all about”. The piece will be premiered on Friday 23rd May 2025 at the St Helier Methodist Centre, and will include narrations of the texts being read by a speaker.
Oliver Le Gresley Interview:
Daniel Heaven: You recently visited Bad Wurzach - can you speak about your time there, and how it informed this piece?
Oliver Le Gresley: I visited Bad Wurzach last September. It’s a small town at the centre of a parish 50% larger than Jersey, 30 miles from lake Constance. The Alps are visible to the south. In addition to visiting Schloss Wurzach, where internees were detained, I walked in the marshes, where they would have taken guarded walks. On the same trip I travelled a little further south to the German alps to witness the Viehscheid: the practice of transhumance; cattle are driven from high summer pastures to lower ones for the winter.
Set in the pleasant countryside of southern Germany, Schloss
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deportation of British-born Channel Islanders and their families in 1942. The archive holds a wealth of material relating to the internment, reconciliation and later twinning of St Helier and Bad Wurzach. Initially I began to view sketches, greeting cards and other memorabilia made and collected by the internees between 1942-45. Through further investigations I found myself moved by the story of reconciliation in the years following 1945. The first family to revisit Bad Wurzach was in 1954, but major attempts at reconciliation and of a more formal twinning began in the 1970s.
Through communication, goodwill and hard work, rich social and cultural exchanges have formed. Eighty years since the Liberation this continues. I am fascinated by the fractured history of the place that has brought these two communities together. There were several documents and accounts that were particularly interesting to me and helped to form the conceptual idea behind the work. This has largely contributed to the concept of communication, particularly through conversations with Angela Francey BEM, the first chair of the twinning committee, who dedicated over three decades to reconciliation and partnership. It was in this discussion she highlighted her multilingualism and the role this played within the reconciliation. This notion led to a visual influence within my work, exploring the idea of communicative technologies, radar towers, audio, sound cones and voice amplifiers. These fractured and disjointed objects are reconstructed countering their material otherness. The role of communication is also highlighted in a quote from the Bailiff’s Liberation address on the 9th of May 2002. The Bailiff at the time was Sir Philip Bailhache: “The German language, once a symbol of oppression, is now but a means of communication.” This quote has been translated into morse code and emitted from a motion sensor speaker as part of the installation.
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Biographies
Emily de Gruchy
Emily de Gruchy is an experimental composer and sonic artist specialising in musical cryptography and aleatory processes. Born and raised in Jersey, Channel Islands, traditional Jèrriais culture often influences her compositions, providing a unique amalgamation of French and British sonorities. In recent years, she has moved towards creating sonic art and soundscapes aiming to bring prior experiences of working with professional ensembles back to Jersey. Emily has received notable mentions and prizes since the start of her career: National Young Composer’s Award finalist (NCEM) 2017; Picture Gallery Composer-in-Residence, Royal Holloway, 2018; Royal Holloway New Music Collective residency, 2016-2019; Daryl Runswick Composition Competition finalist, 2021; composer-inresidence, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, 2022; sound artist, Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show, 2024, ArtHouse Jersey & Art for Guernsey.
Daniel Heaven
Daniel Heaven is a writer and researcher based in Jersey and London. He specialises in critical theories, histories and contemporaryartistic practises with particular reference to science fiction and alternative futurisms.
Oliver Le Gresley
Oliver Le Gresley is an artist exploring relationships between craft, ruralism, place, folk culture and ideas of utopia through use of narrative, fictional encounters, exploration and observation of place on foot. Exploring the performative element to making; the ephemerality found in dance and music; the process and motion involved in making, often repetitive and extended over hours or days, the manual
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"to create that blur of time and space
- even during conflict, nature is the prevailing force of beauty, solace, and resistance."
- Emily de Gruchy
