About The project The Voice – Vouaïe project The body of work comprises of intimate portraits of the last indigenous Guernsey speakers of their endangered and unique language. All of the portraits have been taken in people’s homes, showing their private and home environments. We can see in these photographs the little life's memories, décor, fixtures and fittings which create a home. To complement and make these portraits more personal, I also photographed the Guernsey people’s personal objects which remind them, of their heritage, family or of their homeland. The Voice – Vouaïe project is an anthropological and social heritage project. The aim of the project is to bring awareness and create a social, historical and documentary photographic and sound archival record of the last original Guernésiais speakers. Everyone who took part in this project was also recorded talking and the Guernsey language about their life and memories. Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel and is extremely near to the French coast. Guernsey has an ancient language with a long and distinctive history. Guernésiais, is the name of the Guernsey language, which derives from the ancient Normans. Today, the number of original native speakers in Guernsey is in fast decline. It is estimated that in 2023, there are possibly fewer than 120 original fluent speakers of this unique language. Furthermore, the majority of these people are predominantly aged 80 and over. There are many social and economic reasons why the Guernésiais language began to die out. In World War Two, Guernsey was occupied by the German Nazis for five years. Guernsey and the Channel Islands became part of the German's strategic defences. Named the Atlantic Wall, it was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944. Pre-World War Two, many children would speak Guernésiais as their first language and would only learn English when they went to school. Most of the children in WW2 were evacuated to Britain and soon lost their indigenous language. In part, this was the final catalyst in the decline of the language. These intimate portraits have captured a transitory moment of time in Guernsey’s history. The photographs have revealed a glimpse of the last generation, who witness the occupation and liberation of their homeland. The Voice – Vouaïe project, has now become an important visual and sound archive of Guernsey's home life, dwelling, people, and heritage in the 21st century. The project has captured a part of social history and identity which can be so fleeting.