Fish Wish - Paîsson d’Pâssion
Artist Residency & Public Artwork Commission
During a 12-week artist residency at the Fish Market, artists Karen Le Roy Harris and Esther Rose Parkes worked alongside fishmongers, market traders and the wider community, transforming the market unit into a community space for conversation, workshops, and the simple act of making wishes. Over 200 wishes were gathered, each one carefully woven into the final artwork; a knotted rope installation, paper fish, a wish soundscape, a fish tale bench, and a choir piece Wish Song.
Both artists share childhood memories of making wishes at the fountain, tossing coins into water filled with colourful goldfish. This sparked the idea of recreating the fountain as a wish-making space for the community.
The wish-granting fish appears in folklore across cultures, symbolising wisdom, transformation, abundance, and resilience. From Jersey folktales like The 13th Fish to the Chinese legend The Carp and the Golden Gate, these mystical creatures have granted wishes, tested desires, and represented perseverance. People have tossed coins into fountains, whispered wishes into the wind, and released fish into water; symbolic acts of letting go and inviting change. Engaging the community in this ritual, the project explores the cultural significance of wishes and what they reveal about our collective hopes and imagination.
This residency was made possible through a partnership between ArtHouse Jersey, Jersey Markets, and Creative Island Partnership. Thank you to CRY and Normans for their support. A big thank you to the community that took part and helped build this artwork and to the market traders for sharing their wishes and space with us.
Fish & Rope Installation
By Karen Le Roy Harris made through workshops with the community. Every knot and every fish holds a wish - whispered into each fish and knot by the community. Made using mostly recycled fishing rope.
Rope makers and wish ceremony contributors: Róisín Shaw, Natalie Strecker, Joseph Constantino, Huw Davies, Karolina Dean, Blessed Ndlovu, Kerry-Jane Warner, Patricia Camacho, Alcindo Pinto, Margarida Lourenco-Olivier, Dana Olărescu, Esther Rose Parkes, Stephen Le Roy Harris.
Technical installation support: Stephen Rylance, William Romeril, Wes Almond and Amy Baker.
Thank you to the Jersey Fisherman’s Association, Government of Jersey Marine Resources and Solid Waste Teams, Ports of Jersey and HMP La Moye and local climbers for their support gathering recycled rope.
Wish Soundscape
By Esther Rose Parkes, this sound piece weaves together over 200 wishes collected from the community during the residency.
Readers: Russell Le Roy, Shelly Le Roy, Heidi Le Roy, Leon Le Roy, Blessed Ndlovu, Mthokozisi Ndlovu, Sam Parkes Heinrichs, Mike Freeman, Aras Amiri, Karolina Dean, Tine Seusing, April Rosner, Robin Rosner, JP Le Blond, Karen Le Roy Harris, Stephen Le Roy Harris, Esther Rose Parkes.
Technical Support: JP Le Blond.
Wish Song (For Choir)
Composed by Esther Rose Parkes, centres around the 50 wishes collected from market traders and is performed by both community members and market traders.
Choir members: Katherine Wood, Melanie May Boothman, Charlotte Howe, Olivia Chaplin, Margarida Lourenco-Olivier, Annigna Kennedy, Leesa Wood, Eleanor Hart, Alina Mihai, Jodie Spriggs, Solange Hucker, Kathleen Nevett, Karolina Dean, Blessed Ndlovu, Karen Le Roy Harris, Kerry-Jane Warner, Carole Parkes, Beatriz Porée.
Fish Tale Bench
Over the course of the 12-week artist residency, Esther and Karen collected and recorded folk tales and poems about fish and wish-making. These stories available to listen to throughout the residency and as part of the public art installation. We invite you to listen here.
Music and sound: Esther Rose Parkes. Technical support: Sam Hills
Artist Residency (Fish Market)
For 12 weeks, one of the Fish Market units was transformed into a temporary artist studio and community space. The studio remained open throughout, welcoming stallholders, shoppers, and passers-by to drop in for a free cup of tea or coffee, make a wish, or take part in creative activities. Workshops included paper marbling, with each piece of marbled paper folded into an origami fish. Visitors were invited to listen to fish tales in a specially designed listening area as well as whisper a wish into their fish, which became part of a growing collaborative artwork.
As relationships developed, a working group naturally formed from people who regularly spent time in the space. Together, they explored rope knotting as a shared practice. Later, during a quiet wish ceremony, a wish was spoken into each completed knot—embedding the voices of the community into the final installation.
Throughout the residency, over 200 wishes were gathered—through conversation, workshops, and informal exchanges. These were woven into a Wish Soundscape, offering a glimpse into people’s internal worlds and the collective hopes and concerns that surfaced through the project.
Connections with market stallholders deepened over time. Fifty written wishes were collected from traders and later composed into a choral piece. The choir—made up of both stallholders and local community members—grew out of the relationships built across the 12 weeks.
