Publisher's Description
The photographs in Terre à l’Amende by Mark Power were made on Guernsey and show a side of the island far removed from traditional picturesque representations of blue skies and beaches. Territorially and politically, the Channel Islands—of which Guernsey is the second largest—are complicated and this is reflected in this series of photographs.
Ppwer began the project in 2016 — as part of Guernsey Photography Festival's artist-in-residence programme — and explored different ways of looking and recording the same place through a series of long walks crisscrossing the island over several weeks. He was struck by the profusion of signs proclaiming 'Terre l'Amende' threatening a fine for tresspassing. The signs — combined with miles of walls and fences delineating private land — served to alienate Power and reinforced his position as an outsider on the island. Guernsey is known for its beach resorts, its history of occupation by German forces during the Second World War and as home to a thriving financial sector offering tax incentives. It is marketed as an idyllic holiday destination, but Power reveals an uneasy, unsettling place and suggests that all may not be as it seems.
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