The land and us/La tèrre et nous

ArtHouse Jersey has announced their latest exhibition The Land and Us/ La Tèrre et Nous which will open at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House on Friday 22 March 2024.

In this show local and UK artists are responding to a call for us all to reconnect, prioritise and protect Jersey’s precious natural ecosystem.

Visitors will be guided through newly commissioned artworks exploring Jersey’s past, present and future habitation of the local land. Travelling from our ancient neolithic past, when the land was a sacred site of ritual, through our farming traditions, oral histories and earthly language of Jèrriais, to our woodlands, indigenous species and pathways that encircle the Island, The Land and Us is a place to gather and reflect on the natural world.

The project was developed by ArtHouse Jersey in collaboration with local artist Alexander Mourant, and partner artists, Hannah Fletcher, Remi Graves, Alice Burnhope and Sam Carvosso. Each artist was commissioned to create new artworks, often in direct collaboration with the community. The exhibition is a culmination of a year-long community learning programme that took place at ArtHouse Jersey and community centres across the Island, working with diverse members of the community across all generations.

Featuring photography, sculpture, textile, drawing and installation, The Land and Us offers a myriad of approaches to further our collective, sensory understanding of the natural world, and strives to deepen our appreciation of its interconnected forms of knowledge. In an age when the climate emergency threatens the natural world, the exhibition explores the urgent call for transformation of human to nonhuman relationships, to empower and rethink our collective responsibility through knowledge-transfer, empathy and art.

Local participating groups included writers, poets and artists, land and sea foraging community groups, schools and charities including Youthful Minds (Mind Jersey), EyeCan, L’Office du Jèrriais, Cheval Roc care home, Dementia Jersey, Caesarea Quilters, Hautlieu school. Highlands Art school, D’Auvergne primary school, Ocean Harvest and more!

During the exhibition Paul Journeaux we will be facilitating storywalks with primary schools and families over the Easter period at Capital House, as well as visits to local care homes.. Amanda Bond will also be running forest therapy sessions out in nature.

All sessions are aimed at reconnecting you with nature.