Neotectónica (Neotechtonics)

With collage as its ground, this photographic project explores the natural landscapes of Northern and Central Chile. These photographs have been manually manipulated so as to describe fractures, suggestive of the environmental transformations generated by activities such as mining.

The series looks to the land, referencing issues including desertification, erosion, loss of fertile soil and destabilisation of slopes. These types of phenomena are the consequences of anthropogenic actions, capable of modifying the geography of the land.

And so, the images in this series show overlaps, folds, offsets and reliefs – each unstable and uncertain. These new fictional landscapes become an unsettling vision of the future, leading us to rethink our vulnerability and the path we find ourselves upon.

Born in 1983, Chilean artist Emilio Fuentes Traverso aims through his practice to distort time and give images a new meaning, observing natural and social phenomena.

‘I graduated in Biology B.S. at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE), and hold a Diploma in Digital Photography: Aesthetics and Techniques from PUC, and an MA in Image Studies from the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile. I have combined my profession with various activities related to photography. Since 2008 I have participated in collective and individual exhibitions, workshops, art fairs and contests, photographic projections and portfolio reviews in Chile, Spain, Brazil, Slovenia, Argentina and Mexico. Currently, I am taking a production and work analysis workshop taught by visual artists Rodrigo Zamora and Raimundo Edwards.’