Born out of the earth photos series documenting Dartmoor and the Scottish Highlands, Terratypes is Tanoa Sasraku’s latest solo exhibition presented by Spike Island. 

Sheets of blank newsprint, hand-rubbed with foraged natural pigments, take on geological and geographical information in ochre, graphite and manganese. These Terratypes – inspired by the material structure of the Fante Asafo flags of coastal Ghana and geometric forms found in Tartan cloth, circuitry and pinnacles of rock – form the bulk of Sasraku’s work. These are then stacked, cut and stitched to form geometric compositions andthe paper is steeped in water then torn to reveal layers that expose and encrypt details about the materiality of the land. 

Paper, photographs, and bronzes build upon the artist’s ongoing research into hostile wildlands and themes of energy, mythology and memories stored within the British landscape. Torn pieces from the Terratypes are flattened, scanned and enlarged into Liths: monolithic structures that bring to mind Stonehenge and other standing stone formations. Giving and withholding, unknowing and mysterious, these structures seem as doorways to an alternate landscape. 

A series of cast bronzes complete the exhibition. Intense concentrations of pigment are held in their centres to reflect the energy flows of the land. Emotional memory runs through each of the works, dwelling on our understanding and connection to the rural environment. 

Tanoa Sasraku is a British artist whose practice shifts between sculpture, drawing and filmmaking. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in 2018 and is currently studying at the Royal Academy Schools. 

Terratypes is on display from Saturday 28 May to Sunday 17 July 2022 at Spike Island.