Artist wants veg stall holders’ stories for exhibition
A Guernsey artist is planning an exhibition focusing on the history of the island’s growing industry and its hedge veg stalls and wants stall holders to tell her their stories.
Emma Griffin is currently based in Edinburgh where she is a gallery attendant at the Scottish National Gallery and is also working on prints of greenhouses in stone lithography at Edinburgh Printmakers.
It was while she was working at the gallery last summer that she said the idea for this project came to mind.
‘The exhibition I was invigilating at the time was discussing themes of culture and identity.
‘This got me thinking about my own identity and what my connections are to the Guernsey culture.’
She said her family has a history in the growing industry and she and her parents used to sell blackberries from a stall at Route de Rocquaine. Her great-uncle Michael ‘Micky’ Bourgaize grew strawberries and co-founded the Strawberry Farm.
‘Ironically, his dad, my great-grandad, would sit in his porch and monitor people collecting fruit from the honesty box to make sure they were paying the correct amount,’ she said.
Her goal is to make art that connects and informs on Guernsey culture, which she feels should be captured and documented.
She had often spent time in large galleries imagining he own work in the space.
‘I imagine large paintings of growers inside greenhouses and hedge stall boxes painted on canvases and displayed inside wine boxes to represent honesty boxes,’ she said.
‘I intend to produce an exhibition catalogue documenting a then and now visual snapshot of the island in the form of a map, showcasing all the greenhouses and hedge stalls during the island’s peak growing period, compared to what the island looks like today.’
This would cover the history and decline of the growing industry as well as how hedge veg stalls have changed from just selling fruit, veg and flowers to things like cakes, bread and art.
Miss Griffin is in discussions with the Guernsey Arts Commission and she is hoping to hold her exhibition in the island in 2026.
But she is looking to collect many more stories and meet some of those behind the stalls.
She will be in the island between 17 and 26 September with her sketchbook and would like to be able to visit stall holders, take some sketches and photos and hear their stories.
Anyone who would like to help can contact Miss Griffin at emmagriffinstudio@gmail.com.
