Masterplan (2015-ongoing)
Jersey is one of the world’s leading offshore International Finance Centres. In the second half of the twentieth century Jersey’s economy experienced a radical transformation from one based upon agriculture and tourism to an industry of financial services, which today commands over 50% of the islands total economic activity.
More than 100,000 people live in Jersey. In 2019, over 13,000 islanders are employed within the finance sector. Jersey Finance, the organisation formed to promote the industry, stated that in 2018 the cross-sector value of invested wealth held in Jersey’s banks, trusts, special purpose vehicles and funds is estimated at £1.3 trillion.
‘Masterplan’ is a long-term research project using photography, film and archives to tell the story of the Jersey’s contemporary prosperity as an Internationale Finance Centre. The huge importance of the finance sector to the post-war economic trajectory of the island of Jersey is an area in which photographic archives until now remain deficient. A visual record of contemporary Jersey is a question of what visual record there is of finance. And, what is a visual record of finance?