Baltic Dispatch 4 - on the Russian border

A couple of days ago my trusted Landcruiser and I reached the Russian border with Finland on a small road on the eastern side. Sure enough within minutes the Finnish border police arrived. I tried in advance of my Baltic adventure to get a Russian visa to visit St Petersburg which is only a two hour drive from the spot where this image is taken. But for reasons unknown Russia don't have good relations with Denmark, so instead I tried to see if anything was possible on the ground, but the authorities said 'no'. Such a shame not being able cross the border and visit the great city of St Petersburg, especially as almost 20% of all Jersey ships (approx 200 over 200 years) entering the Baltic went there to trade in goods needed in the burgeoning shipbuilding industry.

The experience reminded my of my trip across Europe in 1999 when I decided to walk to war in Kosovo from my studio in Hampshire in the guise of a landscape painter (alter-ego) and make art along the way as part of my project INTERVENTIONS. Crossing many borders at a time when there was no freedom of movement between European nationals I had many similar interesting encounters with border officials, especially as I was making performances questioning the practice of painting and mark-making on the borderlands in a series of video works named PLEIN AIR I-V. At that time I had abandoned photography as documentary and inspired by Duchamp's readymades experimented with performance using lens-based media to record spontaneous events and happenings as I made my way through Europe by foot. It was a pretty crazy adventure and I arrived in Kosovo 68 days after leaving Petersfield, which was exactly the same length the conflict between Milošović's Serbian army and NATO' lasted. Various configurations of some of the work produced have been exhibited over the years, first at the Danish Museum of Photographic Art (Brandts) in 2000 and most recently a selection of works were exhibited at Øksnehallen in Copenhagen as part of major survey show looking at 100 years of street photography between 1917-2017.

If interested, see more here:

https://www.martintoft.com/interventions

https://www.martintoft.com/pleinair-iv

Image converted to B&W to give it a bit of the old Soviet style gritty look...

#entrepôt

Baltic Dispatch 3 - Poland

After two weeks travelling across the Baltic exploring historical maritime trade and connections with Jersey I'm leaving Tallinn tomorrow on a ferry to Finland. Often described as the Med of the north the Baltic region has been fascinating visiting ports of Szczecin (Stettin), Świnoujście (Swinemunde), Gdańsk (Danzig), Riga, Pärnu (Pernau) and Tallinn (Reval). From records kept in Elsinore (Helsignør) where toll had to be paid to the kingdom of Denmark on ships moving in and out of Øresund we know that almost 1000 (991) Jersey ships entered the Baltic between 1634- 1857 with marketable goods (wines, coffee, sugar from the colonies in the Americas) to operate an entrepôt trade and to supply inputs into the island’s nascent shipbuilding industry, such as timber, tar, hemp, tallow, cordage, linen and also grain for the use of the fisheries, for consumption by islanders, and as fodder for Jersey cattle.

Today ports are no-go areas. The days when you could go to the harbour and watch ships arrive and depart are long gone. Now you are faced with endless fencing and aggressive security monitoring your every move. Like offshore finance, shipping is happening in a place elsewhere away from the public with container terminals and cargo depots operating out of free ports on reclaimed land. Historic waterfronts and old harbours, that once was alive with heavy industries of ship building and other general dock work are now designated as entertainment areas, modern apartment blocks and high-rise offices. Major developments in all port cities I visited are taking place transforming them into fancy living and working quarters for the new generation of millionaires, or investment opportunities for foreign real estate and developers financed with offshore capital, probably through international finance centres such as the island of Jersey, or similar.

However, as always there are ways you can penetrate the system and get a glimpse of life on the ground. I was happy to spend time with shipyard workers in Szczecin who historically was instrumental in the first uprising against working conditions in solidarity with their colleagues in Gdańsk. A clear memory of my childhood in the 1970s Denmark was seeing Lech Wałęsa on TV who as a trade union activist became a spoke person against the Communist regime in Poland. I think it must have been my first awakening to socialism, and on a personal level it was an honour visiting both sites of protests in the port of Szczecin and Gdańsk, although those original shipyards have disappeared alongside the highly skilled workers (less than 10% are employed today.) Gdańsk, or rather Danzig as it was named when it was part of Prussia was also the historic port where Jersey ships would load with grain, such as wheat, barley and rye. Today, grain production is a still major industry and on the fertile lands in the delta of the Vistula river I visited arable farms owned by large global farmland asset management companies. The old structure of capitalism still exists with wealth and power controlled in the hands of the few.

Entrepôt is a project exploring wealth and it emerged from research into the origins of Jersey’s banking history undertaken as part of Masterplan, a parallel project using photography, film and archives exploring the island’s contemporary prosperity as an International Finance Centre. With Jersey operating as an entreprot; the island’s historic merchant trade of global commodities conducted across multiple outposts can be seen as a blueprint for a future offshore financial services industry facilitating international flow of capital from other jurisdictions.

Image: Grzegorz, Nowotna Farm in the region of Pomorskie, Poland

#entrepôt

Baltic Dispatch 2 - Hamburg

Auf wiedersehen Hamburg! Today continuing my Baltic maritime journey to Poland visiting Szczecin, Swinemunde and Gdańsk. Images courtesy of Mr Ralf Thorein former employee of Howaldtswerke who handed over 30.000 digitised images of the shipyard to the International Maritime Museum Hamburg.

#entrepôt

Baltic Dispatch 1 - Antwerp

Antwerp is really impressive, not least its archives which are very sophisticated. Recently restored both the Rijksarchief and the Stadsarchief which are housed in one of the last remaining warehouses left in the old port where Jersey mariners in the past landed their cargo. Next stop Hamburg on the maritime trade route into the Baltic! #entrepôt

Launch of ED.EM.03. On the Social Matrix

As editor together with Patrick Cahill, we are excited to launch the third issue of ED.EM.03 - Henry Mullins / Michelle Sank - On the Social Matrix with a new text by Gareth Syvret.

Henry Mullins and Michelle Sank represent 165 years of the practice of photographic portraiture in Jersey. That period has seen the island undergo major social and economic changes. Through these photographers’ works, we examine those changes and the power structures that remain in place within this insular society.

ED.EM. is a series of new photo-zines produced by Éditions Emile – a new imprint celebrating the unique collections held in Photo-Archive Societe-Jersiaise in the island of Jersey.

Get you copy here!

https://www.edem.je

Jersey Summer Exhibition 2021 at CCA Galleries International

Work from Masterplan, my long-term research project using photography, film and archives to explore the story of Jersey’s contemporary prosperity as an International Finance Centre is exhibited at Jersey Summer Exhibition 2021 at CCA Galleries International.

ARCHEOLOGY OF FINANCE is the latest visual enquiry reflecting on the material culture of finance work inside corporate environments. Both images were exhibited internationally in 2019, first at CAPITAL Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Australia (24 Aug - 20 Oct) curated by Naomi Cass and Gareth Syvret and TAXED TO THE MAX at Noorderlicht International Photography Festival, The Netherlands (6 Oct - 1 Dec) curated by Hester Keijser.

Stamps #1 and Stamps #2
Inkjet on Giclee paper
Size 60x80cm
Framed (grey)
Editon 1 of 7 + 2 AP

To purchase contact Sasha Gibb, gallery director at CCA Galleries International, 10 Hill St, St Helier, Jersey.

Hautlieu student wins GPF Channel Islands photography competition

Congratulaions to Chloé Best for winning Guernsey Photography Festival Channel Islands Student Photography Competition (category 16+) with her film ‘Recovery through a Looking Glass’ about self-love, rebellion and eating disorder set within an imaginary world referencing Alice in Wonderland.

Runners up from Hautlieu School also includes Moses Pike, Leanne Stoneman, Eleanor Gilson and special mention for Aimee Cast, Lexie Stephens, Aimee O'Connor and Daniel Butt. Thanks to festival director Jean-Christophe Godet and festival committe for awarding young talent in the making!

Watch the winning film here:

https://youtu.be/msOQyPVfhWQ

Love & Rebellion exhibition at Jersey Arts Centre

LOVE & REBELLION exhibition is opening from today 24 May until 13 June at the Berni Gallery, Jersey Arts Centre. Personal work across a variety of media from films, photobooks, zines, prints and a special newspaper produced by photography students at Hautlieu School is on display addressing important universal issues of race, gender, climate change and the effects of Covid-19 on the lives of young people. Each day of this week students work will be featured. If Jersey bound, make sure you pay a visit!

The themes was inspired partly by the 10th (+1) anniversary edition of Guernsey Photography Festival 23 Sept- 23 Oct 2021

Newspaper kindly sponsored by the Chief Minister.
Exhibition kindly sponsored by the Bailiff of Jersey.