Structures & Memory (a place called Wurzach)
New exhibition to open as part of Jersey’s Liberation 80 programme
FRIDAY 2 MAY TO SUNDAY 8 JUNE 2025, 12pm to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays)
ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, 8 Church Street, St Helier. FREE ENTRY
We are delighted to announce ‘Structures & Memory (a place called Wurzach)’, an exhibition marking the start of Jersey’s official Liberation 80 anniversary programme. Running from Friday 2 May at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, the exhibition has been inspired by the memories and experiences of the Jersey deportees who were sent to a prison camp in a small town called Wurzach (now Bad Wurzach) in southern Germany during World War II.
Working closely with the St Helier Bad Wurzach Partnerschaft, the exhibition more widely explores the legacy of this extraordinary story encountered by Jersey residents and connects it to enduring experiences of displacement, occupation and reconciliation, both from Jersey and internationally. Structures & Memory (a place called Wurzach) features the work of four Jersey artists - composer Emily de Gruchy, documentary photographer Shan O’Donnell, sculptural and performance artists Oliver Le Gresley and Nicole Sheppard - alongside archival materials collected by the families of deportees to Bad Wurzach during the war. The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of events including artists talks and a concert of a newly commissioned musical score by Emily de Gruchy presented at the St Helier Methodist Centre.
Shan O’Donnell will be presenting a series of contemporary colour portraits of ex-internees alongside archival images of the parents and children who were deported, displaced and interned. Their project brings the voices of the ex-internees to the forefront, through audio interviews, and solidifies their stories into our local history.
They said, "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. It's a part of our local history that I admit I knew absolutely nothing about until I was introduced to this project last year. I have learnt so much since then. I'm so glad ArtHouse Jersey has chosen to collaborate with the Bad Wurzach Committee to bring this project to fruition as I feel it's so important for us to talk more about this part of our history and what an honour it has been to be a small part of this project."
Emily de Gruchy is composing a multi-channel soundscape of archive recordings of music that was played and created in the prison during the internment alongside present-day field recordings of natural sounds. In ‘Two Places: One Time’ language, location, and life are designed to be obfuscated within the space, leading the listener to decide from which perspective of history they want to experience the exhibition.
She said, “I’m so pleased to be a part of the show as I have always been fascinated with the Second World War - my Poppa lived on Island during the Occupation and used to recount stories to us on Island, but the Internment was something that was not relayed to me until ArtHouse Jersey and the Partnerschaft commissioned me and my colleagues. It was a life-altering thing to read about the experience of the internees, and those words I’ve incorporated into my concert work, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for all.”
Oliver Le Gresley will be presenting a sculptural installation drawn from the notebooks and diaries of the deportees held at Jersey Archive to create a dwelling structure that conveys the feeling of the old castle building (Schloss) and its particular architecture in which the prison camp was created.
He said, “I am pleased to be part of an exhibition which directs attention to this part of Jersey’s history and was drawn to explore the realities of internment, where social structures and cultural norms are at the same time disrupted and a place of refuge. The Schloss becomes a kind of stage, acts played out in and around it, the scenery doesn’t change so much but the actors and stories come and go, the eyes of the walls observe it all. The experiences of the internees in Wurzach has highlighted the absurdities of war and conflict; disruptive and unnecessary with a legacy of trauma.”
Nicole Sheppard is creating a sculptural project that focuses on the theme of ‘reconciliation’ where through the dark experiences of the Occupation there has blossomed a dialogue of exchange and friendship that has provided a channel to overcome the histories of violence that underpinned the WW2 conflict.
She said "It’s a really exciting opportunity to be working cross-sectorally within the arts and community. Through delving into the island's social history I found myself greatly inspired by the partnership (Partnerschaft) of St.Helier and Bad Wurzach. Specifically, the immense efforts of those involved to reconcile. Through humility, communication and hard work five decades of rich cultural exchange and friendship have formed between the people of Jersey, Bad Wurzach and crucially those who faced internment between 1942-1945."
The exhibition will also include a major new artwork of paper 'doves of peace' created by Jersey school children as part of ArtHouse Jersey’s Gem of the Sea project, focusing on this 80th anniversary of Jersey’s Liberation.
Structures & Memory: a place called Wurzach is presented in association with the St Helier Bad Wurzach Partnerschaft.
TALKS, PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
As part of the exhibition, ArtHouse Jersey is hosting a series of artist talks, residencies and performances that extend wider international correspondences to the Liberation 80 anniversary, bringing together both local and internationally renowned artists whose work is also deeply informed by experiences of political conflict and displacement. More information can be found via Eventbrite.
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Artist talk with Mirosław Bałka
Thursday 8 May 2025 at 6.30pm, Jersey Museum
In a special co-presentation with Jersey Heritage, internationally acclaimed Polish artist Mirosław Balka, known for his extraordinary sculptural installation work will present a talk about his work
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Artist talk with Ivana Ivkovic
Tuesday 13 May 2025 at 6.30pm at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House
Serbian artist Ivana Ivkovic is known internationally for her extraordinary sculptural and performance installation pieces. Her work reflects on Balkan life and the hierarchies of a society.
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Four Seasons of Displacement by Emily de Gruchy
Friday 23 May 2025 at 7.30pm, St Helier Methodist Centre
This concert will feature two arrangements of well-known wartime songs alongside the world premiere of a new symphonic work by Jersey-based composer Emily de Gruchy.
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Artist Talk with Einat Weissman
Thursday 29 May 2025 at 6.30pm at Capital House
As part of an artist residency in Jersey, Weizman will present a talk about her work and a current project that more widely explores lived experiences and contexts of incarceration globally.
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SKIN by Teddy Ngema
Friday 30 & Saturday 31 May 2025, 7.30pm at Capital House
This new work written and performed by Jersey-based Teddy Ngema is a reflection on life and history between Kenya and Jersey. What are the stories we carry and that shape our world?
Archival images courtesy of Jersey Heritage and the Channel Islands Occupation Society
