ABACUS Financial Services Group has donated some of its office space at Whitely Chambers in St Helier to the Jersey Arts Trust (JAT) for a thought-provoking exhibition next month.

From Friday, 6 May to Saturday, 14 May, an intriguing exhibition of work by artist Samuel Griffin, entitled Sommerfrische will be on display at the chambers.

It is the first public showing of Griffin's project KdF Kanal Seebad Jersey produced during his final year of his MA course at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

Griffin has reconstructed a plan formulated by Hitler's architect Albert Speer to turn Jersey into a giant island resort for the occupying German forces during World War II.

Using methodology more akin to reconstructive archaeology, Griffin gathered and correlated a vast array of historical source material from the German National Archive and catalogued the numerous modifications made to the Jersey landscape by the occupying German forces.

His research focused heavily on the KdF Seebad Prora, the prototype for this type of resort, constructed on Rugen, an island in the Baltic Sea.

By cross-referencing the details of the original project with the documented history of the occupation, Griffin has sought to re-propose Jersey as it might have been.

JAT Director Chris Clifford said: "Griffin's work is concerned with questioning the assertions made by historians when presenting historical information as fact. In tampering with notions of historical integrity the artist is presenting us with a cold and harsh representation of life in post war Jersey. This exhibition is timely, coming as it does 60 years on from the liberation and occupation of Jersey.

"Abacus' support, by donating the space to hold the exhibition, ensures this project can be seen by Jersey people and we hope Jersey people will lend their support to the exhibition."

Group Chief Executive Huw Bolle-Jones said it was the second time Abacus had assisted the JAT in exhibiting interesting projects at the Whitely Chambers.

"Griffin's work is a thought-provoking and intriguing concept of just how Jersey could have looked under German rule. We are very pleased to be able to be part of the process to ensure this exhibition is seen by the Jersey community," he said.