Handmade edition of 58 books, signed and numbered by the artist

Published in May 2021

116 pp, 51 images, 240x130mm

Paperback cover, coptic hand binding, phase-box enclosure

5 limited edition giclee print inserts on recycled paper 7.5x5"

ISBN 978-1-8384772-0-2

The Ordnance Survey’s (OS) mapping of Great Britain in the late eighteenth century was a landmark in human attempts to know the land. Seeking defence against a feared French invasion, the priority was to survey the South Coast of England, and anything that could be hidden behind. Walking up to 40 miles a day, the field surveyors were tasked with categorising the landscape they passed through according to a list of predefined rules.

From the earliest map sheets, the ‘rock features’ were treated as ornament. Formations observed on the surface of the earth are not simply decorative surface features but represent the intersection of the earth’s surface with the body of the earth. The processes of weathering and erosion, coupled with the human hand, shape the visibility of rocks on the surface and can move the rocks from one category to another.

Using a combination of archival material, open source data and photographs, the project follows these rock features as a guide. Following in the footsteps of the surveyor she oscillates between seeking to know and name the land, and melting into aimless wandering, loosing sense of time and scale. The process of ordering the images into these pre-defined categories throws up questions as pebbles become boulders, flowing water becomes outcrop. As with all classification systems, the rules are subjective, leading to their own telling of the story.

The book references the physical properties of the OS map; it’s format, tactility, and folding.

SCALE & SUBSTANCE - Tamsin Green

THIS IS HOW THE EARTH MUST SEE ITSELF: A walk with natural features - Tamsin Green

BORROW: Scale & Substance - Tamsin Green

BORROW: this is how the earth must see itself - Tamsin Green

BORROW: Born of the Purest Parents - Tamsin Green