Gomma Photography Grant 2021
Becque a Barbe: Face to Face
Photographer
Martin Toft
Becque a Barbe: Face to Face
31 Jan, 2022
In 2019 I began to make a series of portraits based around the island of Jersey’s indigenous language of Norman French. Each portrait is titled with a Jèrriais word that each native speaker has chosen to represent a personal or symbolic meaning, or a specific memory linked to childhood. Some portraits are darker in tonality to reflect the language hidden past, when English was adopted as the formal speech in Jersey and Jèrriais was suppressed publicly and forbidden to be spoken in schools. On a linguistic level the project is exploring the space between the formal, etymological and vernacular use of Jèrriais. In an island made of granite most names are forms of the Celtic, Norse and Latin words for rock. Juxtaposed with portraits of Jèrriais speakers are images of Jersey rocks that are all designated as Sites of Special Interest; important geological outcrops that are protected from development and preserved for future public enjoyment and research. The native speakers of Jersey French should be classified as People of Special Interest and equally be protected from extinction through encouraging greater visibility and recognition as guardians of a unique language that are essential in understanding the island’s special character.
About the photographer
Martin Toft
Martin Toft is a photographer, photobook artist and educator who has exhibited and published widely internationally. He works on commissions and long-term independent and collaborative projects and his practice combines documentary and fine art approach to explore social, anthropological and cultural themes, underpinned by archival research. He has exhibited in places such as the House of Commons, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (London), Watershed Gallery (Bristol), Museet for Fotokunst (Odense, Denmark), Worker’s Museum and Øksnehallen (Copenhagen) and recently invited to show work from Masterplan at CAPITAL, Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2019 (Australia) and TAXED TO THE MAX, Noorderlicht International Photography Festival 2019 in Groningen (The Netherlands). In 2018 he was shortlisted in the Professional Discovery category at Sony World Photography Awards and his portrait ‘High Net Worth Individual’ was selected as a winner in Portrait of Britain 2018 in association with The British Journal of Photography. Recent publications include, Atlantus (2015) a multi-functional newspaper in collaboration with Gareth Syvret and Kummer & Herrman which has been exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and USA. In 2016 it was nominated for the Prix du Livre Author Book Award at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles. His recent book Te Ahi Kã - The Fires of Occupation (2018) was shortlisted for the Kassel Dummy Award 2018 and 2019 Best International Photography Book of the Year PHotoEspaña. It was published under the imprint of Dewi Lewis Publishing and designed by Ania Nałecka-Milach. In 2020 he launched Èditions Emile (ED.EM.), a new imprint in collaboration with the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive.
