Aaron Yeandle

The Voice – Vouaïe project

The Voice – Vouaïe project

The Voice – Vouaïe project is a documentary, social heritage project. The aim of the project is to bring awareness and create a social, historical and documentary photographic archival record of the last original Guernésiais speakers. Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel and is extremely near to the French coast.

The body of work comprises of intimate portraits of the Guernsey speakers. All of the portraits have been taken in people’s homes, showing their private and home environments. I have also photographed the Guernsey people’s personal objects, which reminds them, of their heritage, family or of their homeland.  I have spent over three years working on this project and have photographed over 100 people.

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.

I felt it was vital to capture this critical changing situation, as an important part of Guernsey’s social heritage and for the future legacy of the Island. Moreover, communicating this social issue to the international community.

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.

Most of Guernsey’s children were evacuated to England just before the Germans occupied the island. In part, this was one of the main reasons why the language began to die out. The children of Guernsey who were not evacuated for various reasons kept their indigenous language to this day.

At this time the children would only learn English once they went to school. The majority of the children who were evacuated to Britain lost their indigenous language forever and this was the beginning of the end of their unique 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. In a time where society and culture, seems to be changing rapidly, this body of work has now become an important visual archive of Guernsey’s heritage in the 21st century. In doing so, I have captured a part of social history and identity which can be so fleeting.