In September of 1969 Nancy Holt  traveled throughout England and Wales with Robert Smithson and both artists created artworks inspired by the landscape on their journey. While visiting Wistman's Wood in Dartmoor, Nancy Holt created two artworks that are on view in the exhibition Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape at the RAMM—Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery. The photowork Trail Markers, which shows a series of orange dots used to navigate a path to Wistman's Wood, and the photo composite Wistman's Wood, which shows the place Holt created her first Buried Poem for Robert Smithson, are both on view in the exhibition through February 23, 2025.

One of the programs during the run of the exhibition features Holt/Smithson Foundation Research Fellow Joy Sleeman in conversation with artist Ashish Ghadiali on Wednesday, February 12. Joy Sleeman has written on Holt's Trail Markers and her time in the UK for our Scholarly Text Program in the essay "Nancy Holt Trail Markers (1969) or, the walk from Wistman’s Wood."

From RAMM: Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape is a major new contemporary art exhibition exploring Dartmoor’s evocative landscape through photography, film and Land Art. Showing artwork from 1969 to 2024, this exhibition demonstrates Dartmoor’s attraction to artists who, through photography, explore current issues including the interconnected ecological and climate crises and access rights.

Influential conceptual Land Art from the 1960s and 70s by artists Nancy Holt, Richard Long, and Marie Yates, provide the context for this innovative exhibition. Central to the exhibition are large-scale, experimental photography by critically acclaimed artists Susan Derges and Garry Fabian Miller. RAMM has also commissioned two major new artworks by internationally renowned artist Alex Hartley and filmmaker Ashish Ghadiali whose work is inspired by RAMM’s Dartmoor-related collections.

Expect to see your favourite Dartmoor locations such as Wistman’s Wood in a new light.

Artists in the exhibition:

Fern Leigh Albert, Jo Bradford, Chris Chapman, John Curno, Robert Darch, Siân Davey, Susan Derges, Robin Friend, Ashish Ghadiali, Alex Hartley, Nancy Holt, Laura Hopes and Katharine Earnshaw, Richard Long, Garry Fabian Miller, James Ravilious, Tanoa Sasraku, David Spero, Nicholas J R White, Marie Yates

Program:Ashish Ghadiali and Joy Sleeman—In Conversation Weds 12 Feb, 18.30 - 20.00, £10.50, at RAMM. 

Join Art Historian Joy Sleeman and Artist Ashish Ghadiali in conversation. Their discussion will focus on Dartmoor's importance in the history of Land Art, offering new insights into many of the works in our exhibition, Dartmoor: a Radical Landscape. Lovers of Dartmoor will be inspired to think about the landscape in new ways. 

Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape is showing at the RAMM from 19 October 2024 to 23 February 2025. There is an extensive events program of talks and workshops alongside the exhibition. For more information visit the RAMM website.