Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha, a UK territory island in the South Atlantic is the most remote inhabited archipelago on the planet, with fewer than 250 residents and no airport. Naomi has made a number of works in response to and in collaboration with island inhabitants. See also Warmth From Afar.
100 Words From Tristan da Cunha, 2016
100 Words From Tristan da Cunha is an artist's book, inspired by Naomi's long-standing correspondence with Tristan islanders, facilitated by editor Richard Grundy since 2015. This limited edition of ten copies, dedicated to “All The Remote Islanders,” offers a unique window into life on the world’s most remote inhabited island.
Historically, Tristan da Cunha's expat residents were allowed to send a 100-word telegram home once a month. While the island now has internet access, it remains limited and expensive, with a Starlink connection just recently activated in September 2024.
The publication features contributions from local islanders, including school pupils Jade Repetto, Janice Green, Kaitlyn Hagan, Chloe Glass, Randall Repetto, and Leo Glass, as well as teachers Dawn Repetto, Anne Green, Renee Green, and Shirley Squibb. Each contributor has written a narrative limited to 100 words, creating individual reflections on island life, capturing moments that might otherwise remain unspoken. Their stories are presented on their own pages, making each voice distinct within the collective narrative of life on Tristan da Cunha.
'100 Words From Tristan da Cunha' offers a glimpse into daily island life while reflecting on the evolving nature of communication and connectivity. Positioned between the end of the pre-internet era and the arrival of Starlink, it captures a moment of technological transition and the community’s ongoing relationship with isolation. The 100-word format emphasises brevity, mirroring the careful management of resources—both linguistic and technological—that islanders have long practised. It underscores the fragility of connection, highlighting how technology both bridges and accentuates divides.
Featured on Tristan da Cunha's website.
Clay Pages, 2016
Clay Pages is a moving image work featuring narratives from '100 Words from Tristan da Cunha'—an artist’s book created collaboratively through an online exchange with inhabitants of the world’s remotest island—digitally projected onto a clay surface. As hands interact with the clay, they leave impressions that merge with the projected visuals, creating a dynamic dialogue between light, flesh, and matter.
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The clay records touch, emphasising the labour and intimacy of exchange, while the projections evoke the fragile nature of connectivity across vast distances. The work examines the politics of touch and the imagination of place, using the island as a metaphor for a utopia glimpsed through the screen. It contrasts the assumptions of Western technological ease with the realities of remote connectivity. Through its interplay of projection and material, 'Clay Pages' bridges the intangible and the tactile, transforming digital light into a visceral, grounded experience.