We are excited to bring together artists and filmmakers Tanoa Sasraku and Asten Holmes Elliott, in conversation with Winchester School of Art’s Dr Valentina Cardo.
In this recorded talk, Sasraku and Holmes-Elliott discuss influences on their research and practice, and how both have experienced a shift in how they make art, giving space for experimentation and activism. Their collective use of Super 8mm film as an analogue medium evokes feelings of nostalgia to set the scene and present their stories. This is a unique chance to hear about distinct approaches to making art and the overlapping interests and influences of two contemporary filmmakers.
Tanoa Sasraku’s film, Whop, Cawbaby (2018) questions what it means to lay claim to rural spaces and is currently showing as part of Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature, showing at John Hansard Gallery until 28 February 2022.
Asten Holmes Elliott’s ARTICLE 16 (2021) celebrates the non-traditional family unit, and is available to stream throughout February on our website marking LGBT+ History Month 2022.
Biographies
Born in 1995, Plymouth (UK), Tanoa Sasraku‘s stitched and torn newsprint works are inspired by the material structure of the Fante Asafo flags of coastal Ghana and geometric forms found in Tartan cloth, towers and pinnacles of rock. In her practice as a filmmaker, Sasraku engages in retellings of traditional folklore from a black and lesbian perspective, as well as producing more diaristic journeys through her past, via the medium of analogue film.
Asten Holmes-Elliott is an artist and filmmaker whose work examines ideas of identity, otherness and belonging. Using mediums linked to specific temporal locations, such as neon, 35mm and Super 8 film, Holmes-Elliott inserts their subjects into speculative pasts and futures, claiming their right to belong there.
Dr Valentina Cardo is an Associate Professor on Politics and Identity at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and Co-Director of the Centre for Democratic Futures. Valentina writes about political representation, gender and intersectionality. Valentina is also the Equality, Diversion and Inclusion Lead for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.