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Name
Marcos Zegers
Title ︎︎︎ Mining and Exodus in the Atacama Desert
This long-term visual investigation portrays the relationship that exists between extractive mining processes and the social and cultural displacements that occur.
For almost two centuries, the Atacama Desert has been a constant source of mineral resource extraction. The “Nitrate Offices” have left the mark of an era of riches and bad practices. Today, the situation is repeated as an exact cycle: what was nitrate passed to copper and today it turns to lithium, among other minor activities. All this is part of a legislative context lacking extractive regulations by Chile. It is in this context, where the “water rights” are sold to large mining companies, which ultimately determine how much water is left for the communities and towns adjacent to the mining company.
For almost two centuries, the Atacama Desert has been a constant source of mineral resource extraction. The “Nitrate Offices” have left the mark of an era of riches and bad practices. Today, the situation is repeated as an exact cycle: what was nitrate passed to copper and today it turns to lithium, among other minor activities. All this is part of a legislative context lacking extractive regulations by Chile. It is in this context, where the “water rights” are sold to large mining companies, which ultimately determine how much water is left for the communities and towns adjacent to the mining company.
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