New exhibition to open as part of Jersey’s official Liberation 80 anniversary programme.
May and June will see ArtHouse Jersey host an exhibition at their Capital House gallery 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 portraits of ex-internees alongside archival images of the parents and children who were deported, displaced and interned. 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. Oliver Le Gresley (he/him) 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. Nicole Sheppard (she/her) 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.
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.
Structures & Memory (a place called Wurzach)
Friday 2 May to Sunday 8 June 2025
12pm to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays
ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House
Free entry
Visit arthousejersey.je for more information about Structures & Memory and a whole host of upcoming art exhibitions, events and opportunities.
