Dispatch #3: Brazil

After only a few hours of arriving in Salvador in the state of Bahia in North East of Brazil we have established a family connection with the daguerreotype portrait of John Frederick Gibault. Thanks to my hosts Julieta and Melodi for putting me in touch with Felipe, a local Banian teacher and student of history who spoke with Jose Adilson Gibault currently living in Muritibia. He informed us that his grand father Jorge Gibault was a son of John Frederick. Jorge also had a daughter Detinha Gibault who is 95 years old and living in Salvador. Questions still remain about who was John Frederick's mother, how his father Jean Gibault came to be in Muritibia around 1822-23 when Brazil was becoming an independent country free of Portuguese colonial rule. 

We would also like to know who made the daguerreotype portrait in Bahia in 1843 at a time when photography was relatively nascent. From research in the photographic archives at Biblioteca Nacional in Rio evidence is clear that photographic practice was very active with many photographers, mainly European emigrants setting up studios in Rio, Salvador and Recife. In the mid-19th Century the population of Salvador was a third higher than in Rio (650,000 compared to 450,000 - statistics published in 1837) and in many respects the State of Bahia was a thriving metropole in large parts due to it being the centre of the sugar production with a recorded number of 540 plantations registered using slave labour. 

Jean Gibaullt is listed as a sea captain in the Canadian cod-fisheries and we know that a Moises Amise Gibault and Francis Gibault (possibly brothers) also worked as sea captains for Charles Robin and mastered ships build in Paspebiac the headquarters of Robin's fish empire in the Bay of Chaleurs in the Gaspé Coast. It was Robin that established trade with Brazil in the early 19th century and it is very plausible that Jean Gibault mastered a ship that brought cod-fish from Canada to Brazil and somehow fathered a child in Bahia. 

Jose Adilson Gibault also told us that his great-grandfather didn't work at sea like his father but made his money in agriculture.

Dispatch #2: Brazil

Today I spend my time in the Biblioteca Nacional in Rio de Janeiro researching history of trade of bacalhau between Brazil and Canada/ British North America. Not surprisingly very little has emerged as documents kept during the colonial period of Brazil’s history before Independence was not very well administrated. So far the name Charles Robin does not appear anywhere in national records and I’m now looking at reports issued on an annual basis by various Presidents of the provinces of Bahia and Pernumbuco where we know that Robin and other Jersey fish merchants traded dried codfish for mainly sugar and later coffee in the mid 19th century. The main problem is language - as I don’t speak Portuguese and very few people I’ve met so far speak much English! It makes you wonder how Robin kept communications flow with his agents stationed in various outposts and goods cris-crossing the Atlantic #seaflowerventure#transatlantic #trade #codfish #bacalhau #archives

Dispatch #1: Brazil

In the cemetery next to where I live in St Lawrence are the headstones of Moise Gibault and Jean Gibault, both born in the late 18th century. They were both involved in the merchant trade and could be related to a John Frederick Gibault born in Muritiba, Bahia an outpost in North East region of Brazil whose daguerreotype portrait from 1843 landed on the desk of Photo-Archivist, @garethsyvret at the @societejersiaise earlier in 2018. For the next 6 weeks I will be on the trail of this enigmatic image and other traces linked to Jersey's historic cod fishing industry as part of my Seaflower Venture project exploring maritime routes and trade networks established by Charles Robin, the island's premier fish merchant who founded Jersey most successful firm in Gaspė, Canada in 1767. Stay tuned for dispatches from Brazil! #seaflowerventure #transatlantic #archisle#societejersiaise #daguerreotype #photoarchives

Printing Te Ahi Kā at Argraf in Warsaw

Finally, after two long days of printing and with a minor mechanical fault late last night (Fri 13th) we have a book ready for binding. Thanks to the amazing Ania for overseeing all production, printer Piotr at Argraf for diligent work and Rafał for bringing doughnuts at a time of need. #teahika#photobook #comingsoon

Te Ahi Kā at Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2018

Currently a dummy version of my new book Te Ahi Kā - The Fires of Occupation is on display at Triennial of Photography Hamburg until September as part of Fotobookfestival where it was shortlisted for the Dummy Award 2018. Good news is that today we closed final design with Ania Nałęcka-Milach and will be printing soon in Poland in partnership with Dewi Lewis Publishing and Oratia Books in New Zealand ready for an official launch in the autumn at Paris Photo. More to come soon!

Jersey Summer Exhibition CCA Galleries International

A Gift to Tane is on sale at the CCA Galleries International as part of the Jersey Summer Exhibition 2018. Make a purchase and support the publication of my forthcoming book Te Ahi Kā - The Fires of Occupation which explore the physical and metaphysical relationship between a river and its ancestors, between Māori and me. #teahika #summershow#ccagalleriesinternational

Masterplan Community and Education Project

Thanks to Jersey Evening Post for reporting on Masterplan Project community and education programme with Hautlieu School exploring the Future of St Helier through photography. Over the summer Photography A-Level students will be producing a 48 page newspaper supplement that will be inserted into a daily edition of the Jersey Evening Post and distributed island wide in September 2018. The newspaper design will also become a street art installation on the hoarding of the construction of the International Finance Centre Jersey (IFC Jersey) on the Esplanade. Thanks also to our sponsors, supporters and collaborators Jersey Development Company, Cameron’s, Archisle, Photo-Archive Societe-Jersiaise and Simon Crowcroft#masterplan #futureofsthelier,

Te Ahi Kā shortlisted for Kassel Dummy Award 2018

Making a book is always a collaboration so I like to thank Ania Nałęcka-Milach for help with clever design, Rafal Milach for editing & sequencing and of course my Māori family and friends for being part of telling the story about our ancestral river, the Whanganui. All shortlisted dummies will be exhibited at 11 different photobook festivals starting next month at PhotoIreland Festival in Dublin, travelling to Triennial of Photography Hamburg, then onto Organ Vida – International Photography Festival in Zagreb and finishing at The Tokyo Art Book Fair in Spring 2019. Particularly poignant for me is that my book will also be on display in my hometown of Aarhus in Denmark as part of Photobook Week Aarhus, 04 – 07 October. Thanks to all jury members for selecting Te Ahi Kā - The Fires of Occupation for the Kassel Dummy Award 2018. Fotobookfestival #teahika